Questions

I often wonder what other people are thinking. Not so much in a "What Women Want" sense (though this would be helpful - and fun - in many circumstances), but really... what they're thinking. How do different people approach problems differently and what makes them do it? What does math look like to a brilliant mathematician? Why is it that same brilliant mathematician seems to be oblivious to everything else? Or even more basic... what do colors look like through other people's eyes? Is the blue I see the same as the one you see? How strange would a world be if it had a pink sky and our skin was green... but who is to say if I would look through your eyes it wouldn't? And how does this make me smell to you?

What about my actions? Words? What do they make you think and feel? Have I said or done something hurtful and been completely oblivious to it? Why does it hurt you and why didn't that occur to me? Why is it that women can sit and talk for hours, but men communicate more frequently in grunts and gestures made in passing?

Why is it that cultures can be so different? Our blood is all red and our hearts do the same thing. Why do certain people like music that, to me, can only be called that in the most liberal of definitions? Why do I like guitar solos and singing country music A 'capella? How is it that I can list a bunch of questions with no truly satisfying answers? Why do I hate Gertrude Stein? Who is John Gault?

And really, what does it all mean? How much does any of it matter? If we're all the same, if we're all very different, does it even matter? Still, why do people work so hard to kill each other? What would happen if we devoted our labor to productive and benevolent efforts? What if we really did onto others as we wanted done onto us?

Now what about our planet? How is it that we can be furious about gas prices, yet people still try to hit me in their SUVs when I bike to class? Are you willing to sacrifice comfort to save the future of our children? How will you feed the starving with only organic food?

And what about you? What has changed you and shaped you to who you are today? If you could take back one thing from your past, would you? Are you living your dreams? Do you know where you're going, or do you feel as lost as me? Who am I in your eyes and how do you think I see you?

And do you know just how very special you are?