Why?

The workout program that came with my treadmill has trainers that you walk/jog/hike with. One of their favorite things to say is "What is your why?" It's standard fitness talk. Why are you working out? You have to find your why or on days that you just don't feel like it, which face it are most, you just won't. 

What is your why? Is it being fit enough to play with your kids or your grandkids? Is it wanting to lose weight? Is it wanting to lower your blood pressure? On and on, what is your why? As you all know my why is I move so I can keep moving. If I'm not active my arthritis gets really painful. My other why is that I like having muscles. That's why I lift weights. I'd rather have biceps than bingo wings. And at 55 I'm trying to make peace with having a little of both. 

What is your why?

I was thinking about that yesterday and how when Katie was little she used to do the endless whys. You know that one if you've been around little ones. The Why Game. Why is the cat asleep? Because he's tired. Why? Because he was playing with his toys and that makes him tired. Why? You answer that question and get another why and another and another and another, until finally you are out of answers. And you either say I don't know or because I said so, depending on your mood. 

Thinking about that and I realized I have played the why game with myself for a long time as well. And I highly recommend it to everyone.

Why do you believe what you do?

Why do you act the way you do?

Why do you value this or that friendship or relationship?

Why? 

And keep drilling down those whys. It's a good way to understand the real why as to what you believe. 

And maybe a good start on changing that belief if it needs to be changed. 

Question your answers. Question your beliefs. Question everything. Be really solid in your why.

If you can't answer why then ask yourself if it's really worth holding on to. 

We can see them limiting the whys in education. You can't teach certain things. You can't ask certain questions. You can't acknowledge certain things. There are laws in place in multiple states that teachers can't present information that makes white kids feel badly about being white. When instead of saying you can't teach that somebody should be asking those kids why. Why does this make you feel badly about being white? Why? Ask and ask again. We do not learn if we limit the whys. 

Education should be about unlimited whys. Get all the answers you can get. Get them from all sorts of different people. Ask and then ask again. You need to understand fully what you are being taught and the only way to manage that is to ask why.

I know I'm completely biased about this because my parents raised me to question everything even if I came up with different answers than they did. I make the joke that they were even good natured about the first thing I questioned was their church and the next their politics. It's part of why I am fairly good (losing some of it now, the longer I've been away) with being able to argue points about religion and conservatism. It's because they were my beliefs for awhile. Until I started questioning why. Why do I believe this? Why do I think this is right? Why doesn't this align with other things I believe? Which one needs to change? And why? 

I didn't stay with the church or with the republican party. My whys lead me down a different path. But they weren't easy, quick, flash decisions, there were a lot of whys first. And I'm really comfortable with the ultimate decisions that I made because of those whys. Ask yourself why you believe what you believe. Ask yourself why you are voting for who you vote for. And then keep asking why. 

A mother is teaching her daughter how to cook the family Easter dinner. The first thing they do is cut the ham in half then season it with the apricot jelly. The daughter asks why do you cut the ham in half? 

Her mother is stumped. She doesn't know. It's just the way she was taught by her mother. So they call the grandmother. Why do you cut the ham in half before getting it ready to cook? She doesn't know either. It's just the way her mother taught her to do it. 

Luckily Great Grandmother is still with them so they call her and ask. Why do we cut the ham in half before cooking it? 

Oh, because our oven was too small for the whole ham to fit. 

Always ask why.