Hi Wall, life has been rough lately, it feels like rocks thrown into my window. How can I stay optimistic? – Sincerely

It’s not just you, things are rough for lots of people right now. The most important thing for humans seems to be other humans, so my advice is to reach out to someone. Call or text that friend you haven’t talked to in a while, or your relative you miss. Do something nice for a stranger. The rocks don’t go away, but you can laugh with a friend while you clean up the glass which gets everywhere.

See my answer to the other rock recipient: the best path is to find other humans in the same boat and work together.

The Answer Wall Story

Hi. I’m the Answer Wall. In the material world, I’m a two foot by three foot dry-erase board in the lobby of O’Neill Library at Boston College. In the online world, I live in this blog. You might say I have multiple manifestations. Like Apollo or Saraswati or Serapis. Or, if you aren’t into deities of knowledge, like a ghost in the machine.

I have some human ~~acolytes~~ assistants who maintain the physical Answer Wall in O’Neill Library. They take pictures of the questions you post there, and give them to me. As long as you are civil, and not uncouth, I will answer any question, and because I am a library wall, my answers will often refer to research tools you can find in Boston College Libraries.

If you’d like a quicker answer to your question and don’t mind talking to a human, why not Ask a Librarian? Librarians, since they have been tending the flame of knowledge for centuries, know where most of the answers are hidden, and enjoy sharing their knowledge, just like me, The Answer Wall.