When I have to fill out the “About Me” portion of any profile, application, or survey, I usually write a few generic sentences or hide behind something facetious.  This time, I have a chance to get it right.  For years now, I’ve been questioning the point of listing things like your favorite books, movies, and quotes; surely nothing so mundane can really tell others anything about you?  Now, though, I can see the validity.  It can certainly help me fulfill this exercise without embarrassing myself further.

            To begin: if you want to know about me, read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, It by Stephen King, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers, High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, and the entire Harry Potter series (several times).  Watch Searching for Bobby Fischer, Good Will Hunting, and Adaptation, or just listen to the dialogue.  Also listen to the Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Counting Crows, the Clash, and “Weird Al” Yankovic. 

            Or, don’t do any of that, because all it will show you is a partial list of things I enjoy.  The point is, no words can encompass any one of us.  No one person can fit their life into a collection of books, movies, poems, songs, paintings, or political views.  I am no exception, just more willing to acknowledge that I am the least qualified person to explain myself.  I am happy with the person I have become, although I admit I have never had the opportunity to try being anyone else.  I would gladly trade places with someone else for a day, just to see what it was like, but I have a feeling that at the end of the day I would want my own life back.  I am finally someone who is comfortable within his own skin and with other people in theirs.  That’s why I don’t urge you to read, see, or listen to any of my favorites, because none of them might work for you.  I trust that each of us has found, or will find, a peace within ourselves.  I strive for nothing less every day.