Happy Halloween!

Jo-jo asks this timely question:

Do vampires exist?

Do I believe that there are people who believe that vampires exist? Absolutely.

Do I believe that there are creatures who pass for human who sink fangs into the necks of others and actually draw blood? Not so much (but there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio...)

Do I believe that there are people out of whose company you go, feeling drained and sucked dry? Oh, yes. Abso-absolutely!

Open(ing) Minds!

IndigoAngel wonders

When was the last time you did something new, something which expanded your thinking?

I try to take on at least one new challenge each year. This year, I became a Certified Zentangle Teacher. My other blog talks all about that!

An Irish Setter? A Pony? A Spoiled Rotten Persian Cat?

Denise from the Phillipines poses this stumper...

Whether you believe in reincarnation or not, what do you think you were in your past life, and why?

Heck! I am not even sure what I am in THIS life!

The Power of One Person

This question, posed by "Celestial" from Dundee, seems related somehow to yesterday's trio:

What would you do if your government was commiting unspeakable crimes? Would you try to stop it?

I know that mine HAS done unspeakable acts, in the past and not-so-distant past, and I know that someone, somewhere, began the process of stopping them. So, I'd like to think that if I knew about something, I would.

Similar thoughts from Poland, Spain, and Lithuania

From Poland comes this query:

Why are people so rude to persons who they don't even know?

And from Spain:

Why are we always worrying about what makes us different (race, religion, country, tradition, language) when we should have a little more perspective and think about our true essence, the things that make us all be human and start acting as a single and more mature being?

And from Lithuania (summing it up nicely):

What is the highest value of human life?

It is, after all, all about what value we place on the lives of others, in addition to our own. I wish I had the answers to these questions. I wish we all did.

I'm pretty sure I'm not sure

Inge from the Netherlands wonders...

Are you sure you see the world the same way as everyone else?

Since the time I discovered that no one else believed that fives are green and the letter F is brown and that the early evening sky of intense blue smells like cinnamon, I realized that I don't see (or perceive) the world the same way as other people.

I smell Autumn, but I taste Winter. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure no one gets quite what I do. But I wonder what they do get, from their own perspectives.

NOW. (When I can)

From Canada comes the question we should ask ourselves frequently...

If not now, then when?

I think of this as the "why are we saving the good china... aren't WE good enough to use it?" question. Use it. Do it. Now.

Not always so easy to enact, though, is it?

Related Questions, possibly

Sarah, from Louisiana asks,

How has God/religion made an impact on your life?

While Helen from Switzerland wonders...

If you could ask God one question, what would it be?

These questions seem related...

Time... time... time... what's become of me?

Elisa wonders (as I often have)...

Where does time go when it's gone?

Eighty-six thousand, four hundred seconds a day, that's all we get. Where do they go? They dribble away somedays, stretch on for a long time on other days...

America, the Revised

Bert sent along a re-identified card of America with Belgian cities plotted on it and asked a "reimagining" question:

What would America look like today if the "white man" had not killed off the Indians and respected every treaty?

Something radically different, I am sure.

Sometimes, it's simple

Silvi from Germany asks

If you had one wish - anything possible - but only one wish, what would it be?

Really easy for me: PEACE.

Dream places... dream palaces?

Veverka from Czechoslovakia posed this question... directly related, I think to the last question...

What would be your dream place?

It would probably be a place I could be homesick for before ever having seen... When I think of favorite places, I think of how different they'd be for each of us. I love the ocean, but don't too much like the beach. I like people around but crave solitude and space at the same time. I'd probably spend so much time tinkering with my dream place that I wouldn't get to enjoy it!

Clicking my heels three times... and going where?

Esther from Melbourne, Australia asks

Is it possible to feel homesick for a place you've never been to?

I think so... I think we can yearn for other places even if we don't know why we do.

Worst Case Scenarios

From the Netherlands comes this question:

What's the worst thing that could happen to you?

I think that for most people, some physical calamity is the first thing that springs to mind: disease, injury, impairment. And, I have to say, I have thought of that. I am a writer and an editor and most important of all, a reader; I fear losing my sight. But I know there are ways around that.

The world has been riveted by the story of the Chilean miners' rescue, so even though such a fate (had things turned out otherwise) would be a "worst thing," I know that the real odds of a similar even happening in my life are really slim.

So, what IS the worst thing I could imagine? I think, in the end, the worst thing I could imagine is living a life without love. I have had the enormous good fortune to be loved by some amazing people, and not having had that would truly be a "worst thing."

Puzzler!

Laura D, from the Netherlands, sent this one (on a lovely handpainted card):

What is it that we all want to become, but no one wants to be?

I submit that we all want to be a day older - and a day after that and a day after that - while none of us wants to be "older."

I'll let you know if Laura responds!

I am woman, hear me roar!

Well. So much for that "women's lib" thing, eh? The writer of the "disgruntled cat" card asks,

If you would be a man, what job would you like to do?

I guess there's still a sense that some jobs are for little boys and some are for little girls. (sigh) Well, I guess it's true: I couldn't be a sperm donor.

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

On a beautiful card, sombre and striking, GreenMay from China wonders...

Can Time stop to make Beauty ever sleeping?

Where would the story be without Beauty's awakening?

Crazier Than You?

Yolanda from the Netherlands poses this stumper:

Why are so many people going to shrinks today, as opposed to 40 years ago?

Hmmmmm. I'm really still pondering this one. I'm interested to read what other people say about this TPQ!

In sickness and in health

Penny (from Tennessee) asks,

If you had the ability to heal ANY DISEASE, would you? She points out "people would probably drive you crazy!"

Is IGNORANCE a disease? I might go after that...