What’s Your Burning Question?
Hey Rebels,
As a young child, I wandered about my world asking many burning questions. Why are pussy willows furry? Where do babies come from? Why did my neighbor have the word “butts” on her outside ashtrays? How long would it take me to dig to China? Why did the neighbor’s dog kill my rabbit? How does the player piano make music when I press on the giant pedals? Where does the wind start?
Later in life, I learned to suppress my burning-question asking tendencies and instead focus on giving the “right answer” to other people’s questions: parents, teachers, professors, supervisors, doctors, government leaders. The pressure to always have the right answer became intense, especially at work. One morning the CFO called me to his office with a PowerPoint question. “Fortunately,” I knew the answer or who knows what employment horrors might have befallen me. (Looking back the so-called horror might have been welcomed if I’d been focusing on a question other than, “How do I keep my job?”)
It’s taken quite a bit of “unlearning” to discover that the secret to a full-filling and full-feeling life is to return to my childhood state and ask my “burning” questions. The answers pale in comparison to the questions. Yet, those typically in charge feel threatened when I ask probing questions because they too have been socialized to give the right answer instead of wondering why I’m asking that question.
My burning question this week:
What’s it going to take in my town to get folks to challenge the status quo by asking different questions?
How about you? What is your burning question this week? Would love to know!
Muse thx, Giulietta
RSS
So many of my burning questions don’t have answers. There are many. But one that has been playing on my mind a lot lately is why do some of us have to get dementia and live out our days on this earth in an undignified manner. Two of my close friends are having to deal with a parent who was once active, intelligent and lively who is now hardly able to recognize them. I just find it so incredibly sad. Life is so not fair!
Hi Tracy,
Thanks for sharing your burning question. Good discussion topic. My aunt had dementia — not Alzheimers — they are different as explained to me by the nurses. The gaze differs for one thing.
I wondered what dementia had to teach me. It seemed that my aunt and others in the ward had lost many of their inhibitions, mainly the one to keep up pretense. This I found fascinating.
She said whatever she pleased and I heard others say the same. They were brutally honest. I became closer to her when she had dementia then when she didn’t because she had kept me at a distance in her “unaltered” state.
Not sure drugging folks and locking them in small wings truly helps. It often makes them go downhill even faster. I’m not a big pharmaceutical fan and it appeared to be a gold-mine.
My aunt taught me a lot about honesty.
thanks! I enjoyed thinking about this. G.
My daughter is in burning question mode – Why does it rain? Um… I am sure that there is a real answer to the question that has to do with clouds and wind current etc, but I find myself saying “I don’t know.” I want to encourage her questioning and yet I honestly don’t have answers to most of her questions anymore…
I was one of those who had to have the right answer for everything… that was until I taught English as a foreign language in Prague. I learned how to say “I don’t know” very quickly and… it is okay to not have the answer!! In fact, I learned that it is really better to admit not knowing the answer than to make one up or give an answer that might not be true.
So often we get caught up in needing to “know” everything and have the answers when honestly, it is liberating to admit that we don’t have the answers… and I am beginning to think that it is more enriching to realize that we need to ask the questions, recognize that we don’t have answers, and then take the jump to start down the path of discovery.
Hi TE,
Great point about simply saying,”I don’t know.” You’re so right that it’s liberating. For the longest time I didn’t even know it was an acceptable answer.
Here’s to asking questions, whether we get an answer or not. The power’s in the asking!
Thx for visiting! G.
Hi Giulietta, lovely blog and thanks for stopping by my blog recently.
I love questions. Do I love asking them? Do they take me on sometimes meandering paths with plenty of surprises along the way? Are there always more questions once one is answered?
I much prefer asking questions than providing answers. With questions, the possibilities are endless. Answers, on the other hand, often either become outgrown or lead to a dead end.
My burning question this week? What’s with all the rain in San Francisco this week and where did all the May/June fog go?
Hey Belinda,
I enjoy stopping by new blogs. Great way to expand my knowledge base and meet other bloggers. People have so much to say! Like what you mention about questions having endless possibilities. Yes! Often questions lead to even more intriguing questions.
Thx. G.
Giluietta –
My burning question is “how can we lead a sustainable and happy life?” It’s been on the tip of my tongue for ages and I’m starting to explore the answer in more detail. I’m starting to see that once you open the can of worms on a burning question, you tend to find a thousand more questions. However as a former curious child and now coach, questions are my thing!! Great post.
Phil
Hey Phil,
That’s a good question. I’ve had the same experience with a burning question. It multiples into more that lead me in often different directions.
You may want to check out Simple Prosperity by David Wann. It’s in my library. Got some great ideas for his readers.
We’ve been so conditioned to want all this stuff even if it conflicts with really leading a “rich” life. See you on that road! Thanks. G.
My burning question is why people can’t have a live and let live attitude towards religious, cultural, and political beliefs, but always have to be in the right – whether they are bible thumpers or rabid atheists, right vs. left, pro-life vs. pro-choice, non-acceptance/understanding of others’ cultural habits, etc. Intolerance in general. Why is there so much self-righteousness, extremism and arrogance in a country where freedom is an inherent part of its legacy?
Hi Pennie,
That’s an interesting question. Never framed it that way. You’re right that people appear to want to take others’ freedom away. If one side or the other “won” and actually did this, we’d have no freedom. Good point! Do you think we need extremism on either side to maintain a more neutral zone middle?
Thanks for the thought-provoking question! G.