Questions & Answers

Dear One,

Every question has an answer. But who bothers to ask the right questions at the first place?

Look at nature and it's limitless mysteries. It is spilling with answers for the one who asks the right questions. All modern and ancient inventions/discoveries were the result of some inquisitive soul asking the right questions, and patiently pursuing for an apt answer. Yesterday's questions are today's answers.
 
Childhood is a phase of Q&A, that leaves you spell bound with sheer magic. To see and know something for the first time is a rare pleasure indeed. My childhood too was such a story. A story filled with many questions and a few puzzling answers.

I was an inquisitive and a questioning child. My mind raced with curiosity to know the answers to all my questions. What makes the sun glow so bright? How come I am dark and my sister fair in complexion? Why is it cold at night and warm in the morning? When shall I drive my uncle's scooter? All these childish questions and much more were constantly buzzing inside my head. At times, I thought of them aloud, and at other times, I used to whisper quietly under my nose. A child has an unique way of living and sharing it's dreams through questions and answers. Parents often fail to understand the question or least answer them, thereby depriving the child to question anymore. The play of Q&A kindles your child's imagination and paints it with vivid colors to later behold it in wonder.

How, What, Where, When and Why were my five best friends. My parents soon became tried with this irritating habit of mine; so to keep me off at arms length, they bribed me with chocolates or comic books. I too got momentarily pacified by their sudden bursts of affection, only to come back with many more questions for them to answer. My parents are a simple breed; quite oblivious to modern advances of thought and technology. And I am proud of them, for they lead a contended and an uncomplicated life, without many questions to answer.

As I grew, my school teachers were my new found Q&A targets. I would ask them hundreds of questions, not to test their knowledge, but to humbly improve mine. Although I was not academically bright, but my voracious appetite for knowledge balanced the scorecard. Questioning helped me to learn more, than what they actually taught. My teachers were livid, yet wondered aloud about the boy who asked a countless questions.

I had many questions to ask, but received very few calming answers. Within the passing of a few adolescent years, I stopped asking those fleeting questions too. That was the day, I stopped learning and started agreeing. You see, matters of the mind take a back seat, when matters of the heart takes the forefront. Just kidding, but we all come to a stage where we stop questioning and start agreeing due to various reasons. And that stunts our mental growth in no small measure.

Pursuit of knowledge is a tricky path and it has it's own repercussions. It either swells up your head and make you think you are a step above the rest or it makes you humble and wonder in awe at it's sheer inexhaustible vastness. Thankfully I chose the later. I never wanted to have a big head anyway.

Today's younger generation are an eclectic mix of knowledge starved citizens. Technology too, seem to be supporting them at every step. Teachers are in the phase of due extinction, as technology is doing its part seamlessly. Thanks to Google, teachers one day will be just assisting the class and not taking it. Today's parents can't even think of answering the questions posed by the little tots, as they are way above our common intelligence. So the next best way to redeem ourselves, is to keep a check on the inflow of knowledge.

Encourage the young to ask questions; even if you don't have the answers. Do not snub them or lecture them for not knowing the answers instead. Remember today's questions will be tomorrows answers and if they don't question you today, they will become a breed of subservient men and women who will agree to everything that's imposed on them, without any resistance. Think of our generation and the past ones too. The birth of a revolution was because of a simple question. Someone had the guts to ask the question and that simple gesture sparked the historic events of the day. History recognizes and applauds only such questioning individuals. The rest just fade away unquestioningly.

Take the cue and question yourself and others. Not for proving yourself right, but for making yourself all right.

Peace in oneself. Peace in the world.