“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

I want to have the courage to ask questions. Serious questions, embarrassing questions, aspirational questions, even silly questions. The power of questions is undeniable. Questions have been the building blocks of my relationships with others because they enable me to wonder, to learn, to laugh, and to cry. Yet I am fully aware that, by their nature, questions signify some sort of weakness in their owner. Thus far, the mystery of the unknown answers has inspired me to disregard the perception of weakness others may have. The knowledge that I accumulate as a result of my questions has shaped me into the person that I am today. I now know how to cook Russian hamburgers using a special tomato sauce recipe that was given to my mother by my grandmother. I have learned what it takes to survive indoor skydiving and how to say "do you speak English?" in Japanese. Most importantly, I have discovered how much I have yet to learn from the people around me. I plan to have endless questions and I hope that the mystery of the unknown will continue to inspire me to ask them.

— Margarita Golod