How are you?

"And everything is going fine"

Isn't that what we tell people who ask us "How are you?" It's always been interesting to me how American culture asks each other such questions that they really don't want to know the answer to, which is why we politely reply with an answer that doesn't involve any action on their part.

I've been a few situations where someone kept prodding me, "You sure? You face look tired..." (this was actually my Korean boss last year, so don't forget to read it in the correct accent) What do we say to that? It seems so irregular, so we reply again with a common answer crafted to prevent their further involvement. Sometimes I wish our culture was different in this sense, that we would actually care about the well-being of other people rather than so much about ourselves.

For the character in last night's Sign's and Wonders, it seemed that he also wanted to shut people out by telling these stories we could all laugh at or relate to. The movie seemed to be developed with symbolism in the sense that while he was telling the story of his life, each time we saw his glass of water, it would gradually become more empty.

Some other great points that he made were about death. It was clear he believed that there was nothing after death, which really shapes one's thinking about the meaning of life. Some people interpret the phrase "you only live once" to serve as an excuse for being selfish and always living in the present, but should it instead remind us that we only have one chance to make a difference in this world?

Spalding mentioned that one way to "live forever" is to pass on your story—create something that will last to impact future generations. This is a great way of thinking for those who don't believe there is anything after death, but I don't think it would give me enough purpose.