When my daughter was a toddler she reached that stage in her life where everything was a question. “Why is the sky blue? Why is that man dressed so funny? Why you gotta go to work?” My wife and I swore we would never resort to the answers, “Just because,” or its sister response, “Because I said so!” Eventually she grew out of that stage. Probably because, like most teenagers, she knew it all.
As I begin to top the crest of the middle-age hill I have started to notice that I am asking questions based on what I see around me. Driving through Hattiesburg I wonder, “Why are the push handles on the pull side of the door to Dickie’s Bar-b-que?” I also wonder why they don’t close off the west bound turn lane into Wal-Mart and make westbound traffic turn at the light? Wouldn’t that stop the traffic from blocking other intersections – especially at Christmas time?
My questions aren’t limited to the man-made things either. Sometimes I sit during my quiet time and say to God, “Bugs? Really?” Of course, I know that without bugs we would be missing an integral part of life – characters for Disney movies.
Now, I am just as much to blame for the questions as anyone. I have yet to figure out how I cannot feel my cell phone vibrate when someone calls but constantly feel it vibrate when it isn’t even in my pocket! As I get older I also wonder why I am prone to repeat myself.
I have plenty of other questions. Like, if the metric system is such a good idea, then why don’t we have metric clocks where the entire day is divided into 10 or 100 hours? Or, why don’t we make cars out of rubber? That way, if you hit someone you just bounce off them. And the windshields should all be made out of photochromic material so they would darken in the sunlight and lighten at night.
And what about strollers? Shouldn’t they make the strollers for the adults? The kids don’t want to ride in them anyway. They just want to push them. This would make shopping so much more pleasant for us guys.
I grew out of it when I was a toddler. Does it get any better as I get older? Or will I wonder why I am prone to repeat myself?
