Questions?

A Good Place To Start…

“What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago?”…writing freely and sharing it ( amongst few others). I couldn’t bring my nerve to do so. Why? I wasn’t sure. Maybe, I didn’t give myself permission. I thought, “Why would others want to read my thoughts? Do you need attention? That’s why you want to share your writing?” I feel ashamed of what I thought a year ago. It sounds ridiculous and arrogant. Yet, I admit that was me a year ago.

This topic isn’t mine — the way I look at it: no topic is ever originally mine — . I watched Netflix on a New Year’s Eve, and a movie picked me. It was “tick…tick…BOOM.” The movie is about Jonathan Larson, the writer of the musical Broadway show “Rent.” It’s an amazing story. I had about five different topics to write about while watching the movie. This is one of them.

*.To refer to my other article about “Idea…Ideas…”, this writing was one of my nineteen drafts for four days…since it nudged me this morning, I decided to “play” and “work” with it…

Back to the movie, the scene: Jonathan’s ex-girlfriend came by to his birthday party and brought him a birthday present. She asked him if he had any ideas, and he answered, “Just questions,” and she told him that was a good place to start. I was touched. She is right. Questions are a good place to start…

• Back to the article “Idea…ideas…”, an idea does not come uninvited. It comes because we ask for it. One form of inviting an idea is to ask a question.

Many of us think that answers are the starting point of action or change. We dwell with questions, and we tell ourselves that “I need to wait until the answer comes to me.” Or, we say, “It’ll come.” Or, “Let me think!” We don’t realize that questions don’t come without reasons. Something triggers for us to ask a question. That trigger is our starting point. If we recognize that, we won’t find an excuse to start. We know that we have begun.

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” ( Eugene Jonesco)

Why wouldn’t I write?…when we asked that question, it meant: I need to start writing.

Why couldn’t I tell her about it?…it means: something bothers you, and she needs to know.

Why shouldn’t I walk away?…it means: it’s time to admit that there is a reason or two that makes you think of walking away.

Why wouldn’t I move?… It’s time to think of packing and move.

And many other questions…

I will share in relation to the question, “why wouldn’t I move?” I dwelled with that question for five years. Started in 2016. Ended in May 2021. I asked the question at least twice yearly. I felt unhappy. Yet, I managed to justify my unhappiness with lots of what I called “logical reasoning. I know those were excuses; I just had to feel good about myself, so I called them “logical reasoning.”

My “logical reasonings” were: I am grateful for it was conveniently located, I am grateful that it was in a safe neighborhood, I am grateful because the landlord was nice, I am grateful because it is cozy, I am grateful because “I had a roof over my head,” and the most illogical of my logical reasoning: “I need to learn to be grateful instead of complaining.”

In March 2021, I had a health issue that I was both scared of and awed by. It wasn’t life and death. It was painful, both physically and mentally. The physical pain would go away with medications and time. It is a chronic condition. I knew I would have and could learn to live with it. That wasn’t the worse slap.

The mental pain hit me the most: to the core of my soul. I had to admit, “Damn, I am unhappy!” I was unhappy with the unsorted business, the ones I decided to look away from. The ones that I had questions but refused to take action on.

The number one on the list was: to move out. After going through a necessary surgical procedure and treatments for two months, even though I wasn’t fully comfortable, I decided to call a management company and visit a couple of apartments. I knew the neighborhood that I planned to move into. After that, the process went fast. I moved out in July 2021.

I was and am happy!

When I sat down in my new living room that July 2021, I realized that the starting point wasn’t the time I signed a new lease. The starting point was way back in 2016: when I started to have this question, “Why wouldn’t I move?” The agony of justifications lasted for five years. Was the agony a waste of time? I could think it that way. Or, I could say to myself, “That was a part of me discovering me. I can’t be certain in all aspects of my life.”…like that saying, “Something Gotta Give!” …Hmm!! Does that sound like another justification? I shall explore!

Most books, articles, research, movies, paintings, poems, ideas, behavior, even daily conversations start with questions.

A good or a bad morning could start with, “How’s your morning?”…

A good or a bad conversation could start with “How are you?”…

Research starts with a question…a question that experts need to ponder, investigate, prove, and write on…

Ideas start with a question…how many of us are still pondering upon the idea of “love?” We will never stop pondering on love… we will never stop pondering on any concepts that sound beautifully simple and everlastingly complex…

Movies… are forms of questions communicated through moving scenes…

It goes on…

Mark Twain summed it up beautifully…

“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”

Two questions from “tick…tick…BOOM”…

“Why do we play with fire? Why do we run our finger through the flame?”

“Cages or Wings…which do you prefer?….”

The most enduring question that I’d love to explore next time we “meet” in another question, another article… “Is life fair”… or, better yet, “Is life meant to be fair?”…

Jonathan Larson never got to see his idea performed on Broadway… He died the night before the grand opening…“Rent” was one of those musical theatres worth feeling and exploring; I loved it! It ran on Broadway for twelve years…

So, when we ask questions, do we entitle to live to the answers?… Hmmm…

“Louder Than Words”…

Vidya Sury, Collecting SmilesVidya wrote this seemingly simple article…yet, the world lacks it…a simple “thank you” when someone holds the door for us or opens the door for us becomes a rare commodity…the world is too fast…most of us look for answers. Yet, most of us are hesitant to ask questions…most of us believe that productivity lies on the answers…not knowing that productivity lies on the questions, on the fundamental questions in our existence…humanity!