What do people thank you for?

I already have a piece on this topic. This isn’t going to be that; I’m polishing that one to send elsewhere. Besides, I don’t think the rules for this dare include recycling. I think this is an original-work dare: how else will I habitually write if I’m not regularly stringing words together? It’s new-topic time.

What else do people thank me for? I’m drawing a blank. No, I’m not drawing a blank; I’m tossing aside the other youth-leadership-related things I do. I suspect I’m thumbing my nose at the “world’s deepest need” part of yesterday’s Buechner quote. But I want to turn to something different. 

Have you run across the e.e. cummings quote, “Always the more beautiful answer who asks the more beautiful question”? It’s popular; I bumped into it over here… anyway, I like to ask beautiful questions. 

I was going to offer some samples, but that won’t work after all – my beautiful questions are very particular. I like to take the parts of what I hear, and the places where the speaker is wrestling, and stitch them together. I like “What if” and “Why” and “What matters more.” I get a kick out of “It sounds like,” which isn’t a question per se, but in public behaves a lot like one. Making sense is one of my favorite activities, especially making sense with someone else. Maybe it’s the ghost of childhood’s room cleaning dilemma – it’s more fun to tidy at your friend’s than it is at home!

After all, when you finish, your friend looks relieved. And says, “Thank you! That’s much better now!”