Thursday, December 6, 2018

The 'Why' Person

Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.

The 'Why' person needs to know why. You would think that is a basic human wish, to understand the reason behind something. In reality, there are less of them around than one would imagine. This becomes apparent if you try to exercise this desire.

I recall at school wondering in what sort of job a certain thing we were learning would be used in. I asked the teacher, then saw this quizzical look come across her face. It was soon replaced with a flustered, irritated one. The terse response was approximately along the lines of "Never mind about that, just learn it". I realised she had been trained to teach a subject of which she had no idea how it could be applied.

When dealing with people in customer service situations it surprises me how many are only trained to answer standard questions but not understand 'why'. That becomes apparent if one doesn't accept textbook answers but asks additional questions. If I'm saying or doing something, I want to know why. It reminds me of the story that can be read by clicking here.

Governments like compliant citizens who obey without question. Soldiers are not encouraged to question anything. Companies are too often found deficient when it comes to staff training. However, humans are endowed with an amazing mind and a desire to understand things. If we find we don't ask questions very often, is it because we have become too passive? How about thinking more about the meaning behind things. Become a 'Why' person!

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