Issue #71 / November 2019
Don’t you get sick and tired of people asking dumb ass questions?
DAWNE, BIRMINGHAM, UK
Would you like to ask me a question?
NICOLA, WALLASEY, UK
[ ] I have come to believe that the right question is what we are really searching for, the answer may reveal itself if only we can find the right question. My question to you, then, is what is your question?
GEMMA, HOVE, UK
Dear Dawne, Nicola and Gemma,
The question is the most valuable part of The Red Hand Files. Spend a moment to look inside most questions and you will find, embedded within, a supplementary enquiry that asks “Are you there?”
This would be my question too. “Are you there?”
Maybe the songs I’ve written over the years were febrile statements that have eventually turned into a solitary question. Maybe my songs used to say “Here I am”, demanding recognition. Now my songs ask “Are you there?”, longing for an answer.
Do I get sick and tired of the questions? The answer is no. In no way do I get sick and tired of the questions, because for me the questions are proof of life. Not only your lives, but of my own. Proof of existence. The questions are the answer, emerging from the impossible dark, at the edge of tears.
“Are you there?” I say.
“Yes, I am.” “Yes, I am.” “Yes, I am” they ask.
Love, Nick