Childish Questions — November 17th, 2006
Children rarely ask “why?” only once. Every parent, older sibling, aunt, uncle, and babysitter knows the consequence of answering any child’s question: more questions.
“Uncle Chris, why do you go to work?”
“To make money, sweetie.”
“Why?”
“So that I can buy groceries and pay bills.”
“Why?”
“Because I need to eat and keep the furnace going.”
“Why?”
“Because food and warmth are vital to human homeostasis.”
“Why?”
Without respite, the single interrogative word will continue pouring from the child’s mouth until all of the history of civilization, introductory mathematics, some physics, a bit of chemistry, basic micro economic theory, and a wee bit of philosophy have been covered. If we’re lucky, we escape questions about Hollywood gossip, which are nearly impossible to answer with any semblance of reason anyway.
Hitherto, I never really pondered why a child would incessantly belt out the question “Why?”. I simply chalked it up to a child being a child and, therefore, curious. Today, out of the blue, I stumbled upon the reason: context. The child is searching for context in which to place the most recent answer, giving it higher meaning than it possesses all by its lonesome. Of course, every subsequent answer requires context to give it higher meaning, and so the search for context continues until the answerer perishes or Disney releases a new film on DVD.
Just as soon as this theory dawned on me, something else hit me: its brilliance. Adults should be so inquisitive.
One question yields one answer, which yields trivia.
Many questions yield many answers, which yield understanding.
~ topher