What Now? Read Free Page A

have known all along: people need to talk, and often a willingness to sit and listen is the greatest kindness one person can offer to another. One of the first lessons of child-hood is to be wary of strangers, and while this is good counsel to guard against the world’s very small nefarious element, it also teaches us to block out the large majority of those who just have something on their mind they’d like to say. We are taught to be suspicious, especially of anyone who might not look like us or share our beliefs. By the time we reach adulthood, many have perfected the art of isolation, of being careful, of not listening in the name of safety. But the truth is that we need to hear other people, all people, especially in those moments when we don’t know exactly where we’re going ourselves. When it comes to finding our way 3 5

    we’re better off taking in as much information from as many sources as possible. If someone told you he didn’t need to listen to other people anymore because frankly he had life all figured out, he had all the answers, every single one of them, and was crystal clear on every last question in the universe, what could you do with that person but shake your head in despair? Chances are, anyone who claims not to need the input of any other person on the planet is probably crazy. So if you were sure you didn’t have all the answers and were spending long afternoons asking yourself What now? wouldn’t it be even crazier not to listen to people or to make up your mind against them based on the most super-ficial bit of information, say a saffron robe, perhaps? For the most part wisdom comes in chips rather than blocks. You have to be 3 8

    willing to gather them constantly, and from sources you never imagined to be probable.
    No one chip gives you the answer for everything. No one chip stays in the same place throughout your entire life. The secret is to keep adding voices, adding ideas, and mov-ing things around as you put together your life. If you’re lucky, putting together your life is a process that will last through every single day you’re alive.
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    There aren’t any Hare Krishnas left in the airports now, or if there are they’re flying home to see their parents like the rest of us, but that doesn’t mean there is any paucity of people who could use a little attention. Once you decide that strangers are more than just 3 9

    dangerous accidents waiting to happen, you will find yourself able to listen. How much sadness could be averted by taking the time to notice all the people we have come to ignore? Would we in fact be safer and not more at risk if we asked someone to voice his feelings rather than wait until he looked for other means of making himself heard? The world may be telling you to go forward, to climb and to strive and to move briskly ahead, but while you’re doing all that, be sure to keep your ears open. Divest yourself of prejudice whenever possible. The Hare Krishna may just be the one who sees you to your gate.
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    This is the moment when you might be wondering if a novelist is really your best source of practical advice. After all, novelists make things up for a living. We’re never going to cure anything. We’re not going to get the treaties signed. But novelists are geniuses when it comes to looking at trees. We’re very good at staying still and seeing what comes next. People like to tell me I have a glamorous life, and maybe it’s true. I was once the answer on Jeopardy ! (The very hardest answer in the bottom box, and no one knew the question: Who is Ann Patchett?) But I would say that my yearly intake of glamour averages out to be about one hour per month, and that includes giving speeches. Now that’s not bad; lots of people don’t get anywhere close to an hour a month. But as for the rest of my time, the activity I’m most likely to be 4 2

    engaged in is staring. If staring ever becomes an Olympic event