Wednesday, February 27, 2013

The Four Important Questions

Possibly not the ones you're thinking of. Kitty and I took it into our heads to translate a certain set of questions, and I give you the results of the languages I speak! In order from most to least fluent; you can find the rest of the languages over here.

Qui êtes vous? Qu'est-ce que vous voulez? Où allez vous? Pourquoi êtes vous ici?
¿Quién es Ud.? ¿Qué quiere Ud.? ¿Dónde va Ud? ¿Por qué está Ud. aquí?
Wer sind Sie? Wie wollen Sie? Wo gehen Sie? Warum sind Sie hier?

It's possible you've correctly identified them by now (and yes, normally in Spanish I'd cut out the Ud. but the sequence it comes from is highly formal), but just in case: Who are you? What do you want? Where are you going? Why are you here?

We may be B5 nerds around here, but I take those questions about as seriously as I do anything. Because they're important. Singing Meatloaf at the top of my lungs and bopping around the living aside, you could argue they're the only important questions. It helps that I imprinted on B5, not when it first came out, but instead at a vulnerable transition stage of my life. (Namely, college.) Babylon 5 was made for watching when you're hanging out, being liminal, as many transitions and changes are contained within its story arc.

I don't talk about it much, because frankly I have asked and answered these questions more times than I care to count, and it gets more personal and less intended for public consumption each time. But I go through it as a process somewhere between every week and every year. You should be able to look at my actions and see the answer, between this and Twitter and personal journal, but I and a few friends started up a group to support each other just over four years ago. (We called it Courtesan School, because we're like that.) I don't think any of us realized it at the time, but what it's done at least for me is give me a weekly to monthly point at which I check back with a small group that knows me well, and see if I'm staying true to those answers. 

Oh, it's more structured and less wibbly-wobbly New Age talk than it sounds. Am I remembering to exercise? Am I doing my languages? Am I making progress, however miniscule on my various stated goals and projects? Have I developed new ones? Have I run into roadblocks? Having a group to sit down and hash these things out in front of is really useful, even if people are busy and stressed and not up for much input. The simple act of public accountability works. Pretty soon I'm going to be taking that to a wider scale, which is, I think, part of what scares me shitless about it, wondering what if I fail in front of a bunch of people who don't know me nearly as well as my girls. (This is silly. I know the answer: pick up and do it again. Try again, fail better.) More to the point, the act of setting aside some time to reflect lets me match actions to self-image and see where I'm doing well and where I'm falling down.

That's one of the sneaky things about the questions. They don't just demand words, they demand that you act on those words, or you're doing nothing but lying to yourself. And it doesn't much matter if it turns out that you have high standards, your brain chemistry is fucked, or both: this is hard fucking work. Unending, as it turns out. But I didn't sign up for easy. I signed up for worthwhile. I just hope someone out there's going to agree with my definition of worthwhile.

Sometimes, though, it's just good to dork out and remember certain truths.

"The universe speaks in many languages, but only one voice." -G'Kar

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