As we grow older, we tend to ask less and less questions every day. You can say that we become less curious as we get older. We accept things for the way they are and don’t ask why.
For those of you who have children or younger siblings, I’m sure you’ve been asked a lot of nonsensical and very unlikely ‘what if?’ scenarios before. Even the most patient of parents eventually become annoyed. I used to get this way as well.
“It’s just the way it is!”
“I don’t know! Stop asking stupid questions.”
But for the past few years, I have been encouraging my little brother to always ask questions. Teacher not making sense, or perhaps you want to gain a deeper understanding of the concept? Don’t be afraid to ask why it is the way it is!
We were in the car yesterday evening just before sunset when my brother asks me, “What’s that over there?” It was a white dot in the sky resembling a star, except the sun was still out. It is unusual to see a star in the sky this early, especially since we live in the crowded city of Toronto.
A plane? No, it didn’t appear to move.
I gave it some thought, theorized it was a planet, and did some researching about planets visible to the naked eye from Earth.
I found out it was Venus.
This was super cool! I’ve only seen a planet once when an old family friend who was a mechanical engineer pointed one out to me when I was about ten years old. This meant that this was the first time I’ve seen a planet that I self-identified (which was found by my brother, of course).
Here’s the lesson though. I never would have thought to question why there was a bright star-like object in the sky when the sun was still out. My subconscious mind probably saw it and concluded it was nothing special, thereby never becoming a conscious thought. In the words of Sherlock Holmes, I saw, but I did not observe.
My little brother and his young mind questioned why there was a star-like object that was so bright when it was still daylight out.
I’m so proud of him.
Always ask questions, never stop asking why, and don’t lose that curious mind we all had when we were younger.