“Why?” is a valid question

My last “real” job was a management position at a popular Kansas City Italian eatery. This experience, cumulated with twelve years in the food service industry, was enough to drive me back to school in hopes of getting a better “real” job.

I vividly remember an experience I had with one of my “superiors.” The superior was educating me on the importance of table condiment placement—what side of the sugar caddy the salt and peppershakers should be placed. After much discussion, I asked a simple question, “Why?”

Her response was, “Don’t question what I say, just do it!”

I took that experience and surmised superiors do not like the “Why?” question.

Understandably, “Why?” is a scary question. “Why?” seeks accountability, wants truth and desires a deeper understanding of that which is investigated. I eliminated “Why?” from my arsenal of questions and stuck with the remaining four for the time being.

After completing my first year back at the college, I have learned that “Why?” is a very important question to ask others and myself. “Why?” is back in my arsenal and my first and favorite weapon of choice.

Last year at this time, I had no idea what I wanted to study. After taking philosophy and learning about Socrates, I wanted to be a gadfly, a persistent harbinger of truth. But how? I enrolled in Reporting for the Media and learned about the journalist’s number one obligation: truth. I was sold.

Now, I write stories and interview sources, always looking for the chance to ask, “Why?” Sometimes, the question takes people aback. I think many people take their beliefs and what they accept as truth for granted. They subscribe to other people’s truth as prescribed, which is scarier than having to answer the question “Why?”
“No simplicity of mind, no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe,” admonished nineteenth century philosopher W.K. Clifford. “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”

Whimsical beliefs without a foundation in sufficient understanding can have disastrous effects, according to Clifford.

It is critical to understand “Why?” we believe what we believe and continually investigate these beliefs. Do we accept what others tell us is truth, as truth? Or do we seek to understand “Why?”

This is the reason why I love the world of academia. I can freely ask “Why?” to individuals secure enough to answer.

Contact David Scott, culture editor, at dscott12@jccc.edu