Why?

“Why?” is a question I use for anything and everything that I do not understand. To me, this question is an incredibly impulsive response to anything I do not understand, possibly from my burning childhood curiosity of the unknown. And this burning flame of curiosity is still burning till this day as an 18 year-old, as I still cannot resist asking when there is something I have yet to discover.

There are so many instances in my life where asking “Why?” was important, so instead of writing about a single instance, I’ll just write about a clump of a specific type of “Why?”. The type of “Why?” I feel is very important is the Contrasting “Why?”, as this “Why” comes up when someone has an opinion that differs from mine. This Contrasting “Why” is important because it often times shows you the opposite/contrasting side of what you think, which gives you another way to see things/another angle of something more you couldn’t see before.

An example of this would be when you say something good about someone, but your friend gives you a bad look and you ask why they gave you a bad look, then your friend explains something bad about that person you didn’t know before. This question can often seem rude or intrusive to ask, but is important to understanding someone or something and is a large part of how we expand our mind, as being able to see every angle possible is paramount to success.

A personal example of this would be when I asked my teacher why they liked teaching, as I did not understand due to some of the terrible behavior from the other students. They responded with, “I teach because I like to, it is my passion and because I like seeing my students grow and develop as their own person.” This response uncovered a different side/angle from their perspective, like seeing the other side of a city blocked by a wall. This allowed me to understand them more, now understanding why teachers are able to put up with the horrendous behavior some of the students display. Because teaching and helping kids develop was something they loved to do. With this being said because I asked them that question, I was able to relate to them as my love/passion is science or more specifically Zoology, which is complicated and sometimes dangerous, but I still pursue it and wish to become a Zoologist one day because it is what I love.

This personal example is just one out of many instances that showed me another side of something I previously could not see before. And although I was afraid to ask the question at first because I thought it would be rude in the type of scenario I was in, I was glad that I asked because I was able to understand and relate to them more which helped me become a better student.

“Why” by Ksayer1 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.