Captains Courageous - Questions

Greetings Dear Reader,

"That might be the most important thing to understand about Humans. It's the unknown that defines our existence. We are constantly searching, not just for answers to our questions, but for new questions." – Benjamin Sisko – DS9: Emissary

One of the things I value highly is life-long learning.  It was a bane of my youth that I was always curious, filled with questions, and pestering adults with them.  More than once I was punished for asking an honest question at the wrong embarrassing moment.

As I grew older and developed my keen desire to also play with words to better understand them, I coupled that with questions.  It results in questions such as “does one have to vert before one can revert?”

 I love the moment of pondering before the questioned gets the point and the joke.  I get laughs, groans (especially from y kids), and at times a response that really ponders the point.  It is an exercise in thinking.  Since words are one of our primary vehicles for communication we really must think about them.  We must ponder the words we use and choose them well.

So many of the words we say are clumsy and wasted.  What if we chose each word with care?  We could slow down and better state what we think and feel.  We could ask better questions.   We could look for better answers and find new questions that matter.

We also ask the wrong questions.  We ask about the latest fashion instead of asking how to clothe those in need.  We ask about the best coffee shop or where to get the most expensive coffee instead of asking how to get water to places where people die of thirst.

It is not wrong to want good coffee.  It is wrong to have poor priorities.  I must be constantly curious about how to ask and find answers for the right questions.  I must not put the mundane or minor above the great questions.  I must make time to ask, seek, and understand.

One of my finest moments as a teacher was when a student made a very bold statement that she knew I would find in error.  After making the statement she blurted out, “And don’t say ‘let me ask you a question.’”  Of course, my response was, “Why should I not ask a question?  Do I not need to learn?”

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

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