Advent Blog: Always Ask Why

I am a frequent reader of LinkedIn Influencer posts.  I agree with some of them, I disagree with some of them, and some of them actually change the way I think about things.  One that really caught me was about always asking "why?"

I am good at asking why when I am unsure something makes sense or it seems to change something unnecessarily.  I need to get better at asking why when I am excited or upset about something - to challenge my own assumptions (good and bad).

Asking why can help figure out if a change is simply because someone had an idea and is excited about it, even if it doesn't really improve anything.

Asking why can help uncover the intention (good and bad) behind something.  If the intention doesn't make sense doing that thing probably don't make sense.  We can learn why benefits.  Things may still change and we still may not agree, but at least we know where that decision is coming from.  For instance, the Mini recently changed their seeding standard from 2:30 to 2:00 for the half marathon.  I have been chasing the 2:30 standard for about 18 months and am getting close.  I will likely never be able to make the 2:00 standard.  I did some non-judgmental (even though that's not what I was feeling) asking why.  I disagree with the answer and the outcome, but it means I have the next move - I either accept that I won't be seeded and continue to run in the corrals where people are not well acquainted with the truth when it comes to their pace or I choose not to run the Mini beginning in 2017.  But I asked.

Asking why can also help identify responsibility for decisions and proper channels for protest.  I thought for a long time that the amount of Section 42 tax credits available each year (federal low income rental tax credits) were determined by the state (who awards the credits).  Wrong, they are federal credits and the amount is determined by population in the state - a dollar amount per person.  No wonder they are highly competitive and we don't have a lot of them in Indiana.  Advocacy (or anger) then, can't be directed at the state.

Asking why won't always reveal the answers we are seeking, but we should still ask.  Sometimes there will be a response of "we've always done it this way" and I would encourage you to ask why again.  Sometimes decisions are perpetuated (through generations) simply because no one ever asked why.

Sometimes answers won't come.  This week a number of us have been asking "why Pete?" since Pete was hit by a truck while riding his bike home from work.  Pete is a safe cyclist and a bicycle advocate who truly walks the talk.  It didn't matter - he's still in the hospital with multiple fractures and a punctured lung.  But what we can learn is that his helmet may have saved his life and that in bike vs. vehicle the vehicle always wins.  There's still a lot of advocacy and education work to be done.  Pete will continue the good fight and so will the rest of us, even though we won't ever have the answer to "why Pete?"

Spirit, help me to ask why when it may not benefit me and when I feel justified in my indignation or joy.