Questions

There are still a lot of things that we don´t know about many subjects that may or may not affect us. And what do we normally do when there is a question that we want answers to? We ask, right? When you just nodded and say yes to that questions you are either one of the braver people who will willingly look like a fool for a minute or one of the people who will just nod along to anything. It is quite fascinating how many people actually ask the questions that they have on their mind because they don´t want to look dumb in front of their peers or they just think that question is silly. Honestly, most of us are embarrassed to ask certain questions, because we are embarrassed that we don´t already know the answer or we fear that people will perceive us differently if we do ask those questions. 

When we were children, we constantly asked questions, but now we don´t. What changed? In my opinion, the circumstances. Think of it this way. When you are a listener and a grown adult came up to you and asked why the sky is blue. You would probably look at that grown person and think “what the heck? Did he not pay attention in school?” Afterwards, you will think about the question and ask yourself the same question if you don’t already know the answer. However, when a child would come up to you and ask the same exact question, you will probably be more open-minded and explain the concept of sky radiation. Now ask yourself what was the difference between those two encounters. Easy right? One was an adult and one a child. Nevertheless, your response was different (at least for most people), why? Mainly because of an idea that we´ve been taught as children. That the children can always ask the questions and the adults are knowledgeable and know all the answers. However, now that we have grown up, one thing is undoubtedly obvious. We don´t know it all, but we all pretend to know it all. 

Maybe as mentioned we are too afraid to ask or we are ashamed of the idea that we don´t know everything. Maybe the people who have access to the answer is someone who you would rather avoid. Or you just forget the question once you could have asked them because you don´t find them of relevance. It´s not like we can´t ask questions, we just don´t. We may think that some people who ask the unintelligible questions are dumb. I must admit that I have fallen prey to this type of thinking. Sometimes people ask too many simple-minded questions and I just find them sincerely annoying and imperceptible. However, some people never ask the question that are of uttermost importance. In my opinion that is the dilemma, we are stuck in. 

What questions are considered to be simple-minded and irrelevant and what questions are considered to be intelligible and crucial. What questions are the ones that we frown upon and what are the ones we would really consider? Depending on the company we keep the answers to those questions will be different. For example, if you ask people you are trying to impress ‘how do plants grow’, honestly you would probably not even consider it. But if those people were your close confidantes you would probably feel more confident asking that question and if you ask teachers the same question they will probably be excited to explain it to you. If teachers are not excited to explain something to you they are either one of two things, either not a good teacher or just annoyed that they have to explain it for the 100th time. 

Maybe before we go on we should differentiate between the types of questions that we ask. There are two types of questions in my opinion. The question with a definite answer like ‘what time is it’ and questions that are debatable like ‘what happens when we die’. For both types of questions, we would want to ask the “right” people. Before we have an answer to a question, we generally have a preconception about the answer. We have certain expectations for the answers that we could get. Therefore, we tend to ask people who have a similar mind-set and from whom we would expect an answer that we would agree with. If we don´t get the answer we want we generally are not likely to accept it. We always want to be right and we ask questions to be right. That just limits our thinking and does not expand the media bubble we choose to live in. 

We avoid asking questions all the time even though there is a question that we are just itching to ask. From my standpoint, that just means that we are not curious enough to find out. I am just going to share an old Chinese proverb with you. “He who asks a question remains a fool for 5 minutes. He who does not ask remains a fool forever.” Therefore, questions are so important to us. Questions are not there to make us look like completes fools; questions are there to educate us and widen our horizons. We must go past the childhood idea that adults must know everything and admit that we do not know everything. Even Einstein, arguably one of the most intelligent people admits that “the more I learn, the more I realize I don´t know.” If Einstein does not know it all who are we to falsely claim that we do know it all.

Now you may be a little more inspired to ask a question, but still are a little shy to step out of your comfort zone. Therefore, let me help you. Before you ask, you can think. Think about if you can answer your question using your logic and experience. If not, think about who may have the best access to the answer or who can explain it best. However, a word of warning, do not overthink it. Once you overthink it, you can convince yourself, that you do not need to know or it is not important anymore. Speaking from personal experience, once I have successfully convinced myself that I don´t need to know, the question was still there in the back of my mind, nagging me for not answering it. 

Another thing that can encourage you is that you are certainly not the only one with those questions there are certainly more people with the same question. The saying “great minds think alike” means that you are definitely not the only one. Even if you are that´s okay, since questions lead to a discussion. With your question, you might ignite a conversation that is inevitable. People can present their point of view and agree or disagree accordingly. It is powerful that a single question that you were insecure about asking can make people argue and present their point of view. With the internet, it is even easier now to ask a question to ignite a discussion. There are so many forums online that allow user interaction. You might be a bit hesitant to ask a question online since you are asking all the what if´s. Like what if nobody answers, what if everyone makes fun of me, etc… That´s what makes the internet so wonderful. You can be completely anonymous. Before I started this blog, I also thought about every what if possible, but once I started the blog, I just could not care less. I enjoyed writing about topics that interest and affect me and I will keep on doing that. And if I don´t know I will ask or you can correct me if I am wrong. You can ignite a discussion to argue your point of view or ask me to elaborate on my ideas. All you have to do is ask.  

After thinking about it for a long while, you may consider googling your question and that´s fine as well. Nevertheless, you should always keep in mind that you can´t always trust what´s on the internet. However, that´s also what makes this mixed reality so great. You get to use your brain to think about to which extent is that article you read true and can you trust that source. There are silver linings to everything. What is now holding you back from asking the questions ranging from life-altering questions to trivial questions? Just remember nobody should make fun of you wanting to learn. If that´s the case maybe you should seek a more educated company. Now go out, be brave and just ask away. Maybe you will discover something new.