Happy New Year! In thinking about 2011, I’m struck by all the long standing questions that were answered. For example, will Muammar Gaddafi ever lose
power? (Yes, and his life, too). Will Osama Bin Laden ever be found? (Yup, and
killed, too. I’m sensing a theme here). Other answers were to more
personal questions, like will I ever write (and by that I mean finish) a novel?
Yes! And no one died in the process!
Ever since I was a little kid, one of the things that’s
fascinated me about the concept of the future is the things that might happen
that I don’t know about yet. I wondered what I would be when I grew up, whether
I would get married or have children, and where I would live. I knew that my future self would have the
answers to these questions.
I don’t
believe that anything is destined or meant to be, so I knew that the actions I
took would generate the answers. But I
still really wanted to be able to know the things that my future selves would
know. Some of my childhood questions
have been definitively answered for me.
The answers to other have shifted over the years, so that the only response
possible is like the one that comes out of the Magic 8 Ball—ask again later.
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. So instead of sharing a list of things I want
to do in 2012, I’m going to be sharing the questions that I’d love to see
answered this new year. They'll be spread them out over the weeks. Some are questions related to interests of
mine, like books, true crime, and pop culture. Others are more general. A few are personal.
I'm also going to share my predicted answers. At the end of the year, I’ll
tally up which of the questions have been answered, and whether my present self was right. It feels a little like a competition between the me of 1/1/2011 and the me of 1/1/2012, and I have no idea who to bet on. Creepy.
The Questions:
