While studying web analytics, I was exposed to the work of Avinash Kaushik. His writing is entertaining and always worth the time spent reading it. He could write an article called “The Best Sandwich I Ever Ate” and you would be hooked from the first word, as well as smarter after reading it than before.

During a recent Q and A on Yabbly, somebody tossed him a rather personal question:

Question
What is the purpose of your existence? Do you believe in God?

To which he replied:

Answer
I love this poem by Walt Whitman, and I believe we are here to contribute our verse. It is what I worry about, it is what I solve for.

***

O Me! O Life!
BY WALT WHITMAN

Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
Of the endless trains of the faithless, of cities fill’d with the foolish,
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light, of the objects mean, of the struggle ever renew’d,
Of the poor results of all, of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me,
Of the empty and useless years of the rest, with the rest me intertwined,
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?

Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.

I loved the fact that he didn’t dodge the question. He answered it honestly and concisely, but in a way that still lets him maintain his privacy.