In Questions & Swords: Folktales of the Zapatista Revolution, Subcomandante Marcos, spokesperson of the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (the EZLN), tells a folktale about two gods, Ik’al and Votan, who want to move, but don’t know how, what direction, or where they are going. Their first move is a question, and they walk with questions. They walk and ask questions along the way, not knowing the answers to all of them, but still asking and answering questions as they move along the way.
Here are some excerpts from “The Story of Questions” As told by Subcomandante Marcos. (In the book, the story is wonderfully illustrated with paintings by Antonio Ramirez.)
They were the same thing. They were one, these two, because one made the other. But they would not walk themselves, staying their ways, these two gods who were one without moving.
….
“Let’s walk, said the one who was two.
“How?” asked the other.
“Where?” asked the one.
And they saw that they had moved a little, first to ask how, then to ask where.
The one who was two became very happy when the one saw that they were moving themselves a little. Both of them wanted to move at the same time, but they couldn’t do it themselves.
“How should we do it then?’
And one would come around first and then the other and they would move just a little but more and they realized that they could move if one went first, then the other. So they came to an agreement that – in order to move – one had to move first, then the other. So they started walking and now no one remembers who started walking first because at the time they were so happy just to be moving…
“..And who cares who was first since we’re moving now?’ said the gods who were one and the same and they laughed at each other and the first agreement they made was to dance, and they danced, one little step by one, one little step by the other, and they danced for a long time because they were so happy that they had found each other.
….
And they saw that the first question was, ‘How do we move?’ and the answer was, ‘Together but separately and in agreement.’ But that question wasn’t important anymore because they realized that they were already walking, and so another question came up when they saw that there were two roads in front of them.
[At this point in the story, seeing that the short road ended right away and “just got over to there” they agreed to take the long road. They were about to start walking when another question arrived, “where does this road take us.” They thought about the answer for a long time when the “two who were one got the bright idea that only by walking the long road were they going to know where the road took them. If they remained where they were, they were never going to know where the long road leads.” So they started walking. Then, “and only then and there” they saw it was taking a long time to walk the road, so they asked themselves, ‘how will we walk for such a long time.’ and because one is afraid to walk by night and the other by day, and after a lot of crying and grief they decide that the one will only walk by day (carrying the other) and the other by night.
This is how the true men and women learned that questions are for walking, not for just standing around and doing nothing. And since then, when true men and women want to talk, they ask questions.
I believe that this story contains important lessons for movement and for struggle. It is especially relevant for movements working to end interpersonal violence through community action and intervention because there are so many questions...when is it safe to put our visions to action? We will always have questions, but we must also move. Walking with questions is the only way to go. Through walking, we will find more questions, but we will have also moved further along than we where at the start. Sometimes, we will pause on the walk, to think, to ponder, to figure out the answer or to wait until the answer comes. Sometimes, as in this story, there will be crying and fear along the journey, but only by walking with questions will we move. This is what movement is all about. Movement involves walking with questions.
This story contains important meaning for my own life journey. Along my path in life, I choose to walk with questions. I also choose to have faith in God that the answers I need will come.
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