Like Shaking Hands with God: A Conversation about Writing
Lee Stringer and Kurt Vonnegut in 1998. Watch here.
LEE: You know, I barely rescued myself. And one thing I noticed from being on the street is that, looking the other way, all of us are really—everybody in this room—is really just groping their way around in life. We grab on to things that tell us we’ve got it all figured out, but I bet if I ask for a show of hands of people who have just the littlest bit of doubt that they don’t have it all figured out, I bet you everybody would raise their hands. So in that context it would be kind of presumptuous to know you could save the next person—at least for me. This may surprise a lot of people to hear me say it, but it’s an honest answer . . . Saving myself is going to be a lifetime job, so I don’t know if I can really get to the point where I have the time or the wherewithal to save the next guy. I don’t know what’s right for you. And I wouldn’t presume to tell you right now.