There are a few moments in every person’s life that define who they become, the legacy that they leave behind. For me, this moment came when I stumbled upon a line with such RAW power that even recalling it makes me shake in my metaphorical boots.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a Tuesday… oh actually, maybe a Thursday. The air was so humid, the sky so empty, the night so sticky I could drown. I just knew that me and the boys (Scooter and Tugboat) were gonna tear through the town.

Right before heading out, my bag full of White Claws and Fireball, I decided to scroll through a random Roger Ebert film review covering the Taiwanese film Three Times. Slowly, I reached a line—the line: “Meryl Streep once said that every good actor knows that the statement ‘I love you’ is a question.”

Now, to my incredibly well-developed and finely polished mind, this sounded pretty deep. So I decided to insert it into every conversation I could. A friend of mine is having romantic troubles: “Well, you know that ‘I love you’ is more of a question than a statement.” Accidently bumping into a stranger at a park: “Hey, watch it! Wait actually, hold on a second, friend! No, come back! Did you know that the statement ‘I love you’ is actually a question?” The barista gets my order wrong: “Every good actor knows that the statement ‘I love you’ is a question,” I chuckle to myself and nod my head vigorously. She does not respond. 

Slowly but surely, this very quote began to change my life. Gone were the days when I would stare into crowds during my childhood piano recitals, scouring for my parent’s smiles of approval. I was now a wise man—an entity. 

I had a new outlook on life. I would run for Student Treasurer and attempt to live my dream, to fund a fully student-run, student-acted remake of the 2008 Liam Neeson action classic Taken, all while dedicating it to my newfound hero: Meryl Streep. 

I was already setting my ambitions into motion … until I found out the truth. There is no source for this quote outside of Roger Ebert’s article. Was my life a lie?

Now, I’m not saying Roger Ebert misquoted Meryl Streep. After all, I’ve been taking his opinions as my own ever since my passion for film criticism began many years ago, in one of those weird children’s stables you can find in an IKEA.

Still, how could I confirm those precious words were real? What does “real” even mean? Am I real? 

I tried calling and emailing Meryl Streep, but she never responded. I began to doubt the validity of the contact info I found online. I was spiralling. 

It was in those moments, at my very lowest, that I thought back to the quote—“Every good actor knows that the statement ‘I love you’ is a question”—and it gave me the strength that I needed to continue. I realized it doesn’t matter where the line originates; the words themselves contain profound meaning. And as long as they made me sound smart in my Anthropology seminar, everything was gonna be okay.