Can I have more than three? Creative, kind, a grafter, engaging, loyal, fun and generous.
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Question
What is the worst thing anyone has said to you?
Failure & regret
Question
What would you like to be remembered for?
Death & what remains
Question
When were you happiest?
Time & hindsight
Question
How close have you come to death?
Death & what remains
Question
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Failure & regret
Question
What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Time & hindsight
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
The Guardian's weekly The Q&A repeatedly uses this exact standing prompt.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Content. Cheerful. Appreciative.
The Q&A, The Guardian, 21 June 2025 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 120 →Juicy, funny, impulsive.
Nice, direct, loyal.
Caring, patient, considerate, innumerate.
More from Graydon Carter
View profile →“Didn’t you used to be Graydon Carter?”
With dozens upon dozens of beautiful women weeping over my casket.
My first week in New York in 1978, when I was about to start as a writer at Time. And my first week in the south of France after retiring from my job of 25 years as editor of Vanity Fair.
Getting into a tense argument with Russell Crowe during one of the Vanity Fair Oscar parties.
That I didn’t go to Turkey during the pandemic for one of those male hair treatments.
Be generous and kind. Honestly, those two things did everything for me.
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