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celticdragonflyI wrote this as a comment to a post here on the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
babylon5 community, but what the heck, I'm going to tell the story here, too, especially since I have a new appropriate icon for it.
Okay, I gotta tell a story. Possible spoilers for the whole series.
One note - I remember (hopefully right - we're just now getting the DVDs and rewatching) Lorien asking questions of why are you here, and do you have anything to live for?
So some years ago I was at a LosCon in LA, and JMS was a guest. As usual, he had a large well-attended talk. He said he was going to take questions, and wanted us all to ask our questions IN the talk - he said that all too often at this kind of event, he'd ask if there were any more questions, and nobody would admit to any - and then after he'd closed, there'd be this RUSH of people coming up to him with questions. So to encourage us to ask our questions now, he had several goodies to give to the best questions - a comic and 2 CDs, IIRC - and the plastic bag they were in would go to the worst question. The first two goodies had been given out, and my spouse was occasionally gently jabbing me in the ribs, encouraging me to ask my question.
So I raised my hand and asked. I said "I've thought over the various Questions of B5 - and have noticed some correlations, as a parent. With a small child (especially mine, who is language delayed), you spend a lot of frustrated time saying to them "What do you want? What do you WANT?" Then later they become teenagers and you look at them and ask "Who ARE you?" Later still they go off to college, and come home occasionally late on a weekend with a bag full of dirty laundry - and you look at them disgustedly and ask "Why are you here? Do you have anything to live for?" Eventually, if you're lucky, they go off to form relationships and develop a career, and face the question of the Rangers, "what do you serve and who do you trust?" So the questions seem to follow stages of life development. My question is, did you do that on purpose?"
JMS just looked at me, picked up the CD that remained, and held it out.
A moment later he spoke into the microphone and said "Did you all hear that?" People had not. So he had me come up to the front table, handed me the microphone, and had me repeat the question.
Then he took the microphone and said "Was it on purpose? It is now."
It was overall a great moment for me. The CD was one of a radio show he'd been working on, and I got him to sign it for me afterwards.
babylon5 community, but what the heck, I'm going to tell the story here, too, especially since I have a new appropriate icon for it. Okay, I gotta tell a story. Possible spoilers for the whole series.
One note - I remember (hopefully right - we're just now getting the DVDs and rewatching) Lorien asking questions of why are you here, and do you have anything to live for?
So some years ago I was at a LosCon in LA, and JMS was a guest. As usual, he had a large well-attended talk. He said he was going to take questions, and wanted us all to ask our questions IN the talk - he said that all too often at this kind of event, he'd ask if there were any more questions, and nobody would admit to any - and then after he'd closed, there'd be this RUSH of people coming up to him with questions. So to encourage us to ask our questions now, he had several goodies to give to the best questions - a comic and 2 CDs, IIRC - and the plastic bag they were in would go to the worst question. The first two goodies had been given out, and my spouse was occasionally gently jabbing me in the ribs, encouraging me to ask my question.
So I raised my hand and asked. I said "I've thought over the various Questions of B5 - and have noticed some correlations, as a parent. With a small child (especially mine, who is language delayed), you spend a lot of frustrated time saying to them "What do you want? What do you WANT?" Then later they become teenagers and you look at them and ask "Who ARE you?" Later still they go off to college, and come home occasionally late on a weekend with a bag full of dirty laundry - and you look at them disgustedly and ask "Why are you here? Do you have anything to live for?" Eventually, if you're lucky, they go off to form relationships and develop a career, and face the question of the Rangers, "what do you serve and who do you trust?" So the questions seem to follow stages of life development. My question is, did you do that on purpose?"
JMS just looked at me, picked up the CD that remained, and held it out.
A moment later he spoke into the microphone and said "Did you all hear that?" People had not. So he had me come up to the front table, handed me the microphone, and had me repeat the question.
Then he took the microphone and said "Was it on purpose? It is now."
It was overall a great moment for me. The CD was one of a radio show he'd been working on, and I got him to sign it for me afterwards.
