My niece Hannah, at age 21 months, is in the "why" phase. When my family was all together, we tried different tactics to avert her "why" questions. Sometimes we simply answered them. Sometimes we used words we knew she wouldn't understand to offer her answers, hoping to frustrate her from continuing to ask. Sometimes we gave the same answer over and over until she gave up. Sometimes we just didn't answer. My personal favorite was when I preempted a why that I knew was coming by asking her first, and then she didn't know what to say. (I also liked to randomly ask her why even if it wasn't preemptive.)
Often she'd start a conversation with "what's that?" and point to something random. Usually something she clearly could identify on her own, like a bagel or a toy. Then, when you told her what it was, she'd ask "why?" This was a particularly difficult "why" to answer. Why is it a bagel? Um...cuz they put the ingredients in that make it a bagel?
She asked other questions, too, like "What's the buzzy fly doing?" (To which my mom responded "buzzing" and then I said, "and flying. The description really said it all...") But mostly she stuck with her favorite. I always thought toddlers asked why because of a genuine curiosity about the world. Which maybe they do sometimes. But I came to realize she just thought it was fun to say. Maybe because it's one of the few ways she knows how to strike up a conversation. (On one occasion, she went up to a couple family members and with no context at all asked her standard question. I don't think she got a response that time...but it does help make my case.)
But despite my realization that she wasn't always genuinely curious about knowing why, the chorus of "why's" throughout the week got me thinking about how little I ask that question. Too often I just accept that things are the way they are without considering: why do I do it this way? Why does my company do it this way? Is there a better way? Why do I believe this? Is it really biblical, or just cultural?
I think we all could use a little more "why" in our lives. Except Hannah, she's got plenty as it is!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Why?
Posted by Ali Thompson at 10:36 PM
Labels: Hannah, philosophy, questions, why
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1 comments:
I'm a big fan of 'Why?' but many other adults aren't, especially in the corporate world. They do stuff because that's how it's done, or what they were taught or told. I always tell the people i work with that when they recieve a request for a project or piece of work they should not blindly complete it but ask the requestor, (or if that's not possible then themselves) why they were given the project, what is hoped to be accomplished etc, and you would be amazed how many people don't even consider the why and blindly follow instructions and then give a product which does not serve the purpose and all parties are left unhappy.
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