1. Wait, what? This is the question which asks for clarification.
2. I wonder why/if? is the question for curiosity
3. Couldn't we at least? is a question for consensus or for making progress.
4. How can I help? is the question that indicates a willingness for involvement without taking over.
5. What truly matters? asks about our core convictions.
Plus there is a bonus question from a poem by Raymond Carver:
And did you get what you wanted out of life even so?
Here is the poem in its entirety:
LATE FRAGMENT
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.
I bet you were wondering about the connections between books and this speech and essential questions, weren't you? Here it is. There are books that make us feel beloved, make us feel we belong. More importantly, in THE BEST MAN, I have no doubt that Archer Magill is beloved. And I do not doubt that he will feel beloved and call himself beloved. It is one of the aspects I love so much about this book. The Magill family is one where we can all feel and be beloved.
