The Most Important Question Facing People

In Looking for Alaska by John Green, one character, Alaska Young, says the the most important question facing people is, “How will we ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?” After her death (sorry for the spoiler!), a teacher asks students, “How will you – you personally – ever get out of this labyrinth of suffering?”I sort of love the question. It’s like, “How will you survive?” Or, more nicely, “How will you live?”

As to survival, my answer is by one bit at a time. I will focus on what is before me because sometimes that is enough. Sometimes that is all that is possible.

I think about when I got to ask Tig Notaro a question on Huffington Post Live and I asked her what her advice would be to people going through rough times. She essentially said to make your world small. Make the people around you only the people you love. Limit what you’re concerning yourself with to only that which really matters. And I think that’s it. That is how you make it through this labyrinth of suffering.

It is not, however, how I choose to live. It’s only how I survive hard times, of which there are many. I want to live during the rest of my time by saying yes. By opening up my heart and mind to new experiences, people, cultures. etc.