But how?....What if?... When did?...
Why are we here ?
Who drank my beer ?
Why do we grow ?
What's wrong with going slow?
Why do some beg ?
Is that a fake leg ?
How do you do ?
Do you have this in blue ?
Can we do this ?
Isn't that just total bliss ?
Why do we love ?
Is there anyone up above ?....
You'll always hear your boss/superior/mentor/teacher complain to you that you aren't asking the right questions... What if there's no such thing as a wrong question ? Is it written somewhere that only a limited number of questions have the privilege of being answered in this world ? And are those questions the chosen right ones ???
Often in my experiences, I've realized that no matter how much knowledge and experience you can gather from anything, it is the Socratic approach to any situation that will help you gain an edge. I always love to talk to my parents about when I was growing up, and eventually the conversation shifts to "kids that age". The first thing they say is that kids absorb so much in that period of their lives, and it's because they're always asking questions ! The wonderful thing about a little child asking questions, is that he/she possesses an innocence centered around really wanting to learn and grow as an individual. Why is it we lose that as time goes by ? Suddenly we have too much ego to ask questions at the risk of sounding silly or stupid !
Picture this scenario : If a student reads about something fascinating and wants to explain it to his classmates, how does he do that without sounding like a good-two-shoes-know-it-all ? Simple... he raises his hand and asks a question about it (even though he already knows the answer). The teacher then proceeds to tell the entire class the answer to that question thereby educating the people. All he does later, is add something to the teacher's answer in case she forgot it (by asking more questions accordingly).... which brings me to my next query - Why can't people share knowledge as easily as they acquire it ? I once read the following analogy - If you and I have an apple each, and we exchange the apples, we still have one apple each ! But if we each have an idea, and exchange those ideas, then we each have two ideas !!! Sharing acquired knowledge is crucial. And somewhere along the lines of overtaking each other in the thirst for more and more knowledge, I feel we've forgotten that simple courtesy. We can't afford to be selfish in sharing knowledge, because the source that provides us with the same knowledge was not selfish at all.
We live today in the ultimate age for learning. There's all this knowledge just waiting to get into our heads. All we need to do is ask for it... with a simple, divine, non-complicated question. There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.
I leave you now -
ए सवाल.. तेरी अहमियत अगर भूलें,
बिगड़ जायेंगे हम , जितना भी धुलें,
रुक जाएगी प्रगति की यह पतली सी डोर,
सवाल न होते नालायक, होता पूछने वाला मोर ! - me
Who drank my beer ?
Why do we grow ?
What's wrong with going slow?
Why do some beg ?
Is that a fake leg ?
How do you do ?
Do you have this in blue ?
Can we do this ?
Isn't that just total bliss ?
Why do we love ?
Is there anyone up above ?....
You'll always hear your boss/superior/mentor/teacher complain to you that you aren't asking the right questions... What if there's no such thing as a wrong question ? Is it written somewhere that only a limited number of questions have the privilege of being answered in this world ? And are those questions the chosen right ones ???
Often in my experiences, I've realized that no matter how much knowledge and experience you can gather from anything, it is the Socratic approach to any situation that will help you gain an edge. I always love to talk to my parents about when I was growing up, and eventually the conversation shifts to "kids that age". The first thing they say is that kids absorb so much in that period of their lives, and it's because they're always asking questions ! The wonderful thing about a little child asking questions, is that he/she possesses an innocence centered around really wanting to learn and grow as an individual. Why is it we lose that as time goes by ? Suddenly we have too much ego to ask questions at the risk of sounding silly or stupid !
Picture this scenario : If a student reads about something fascinating and wants to explain it to his classmates, how does he do that without sounding like a good-two-shoes-know-it-all ? Simple... he raises his hand and asks a question about it (even though he already knows the answer). The teacher then proceeds to tell the entire class the answer to that question thereby educating the people. All he does later, is add something to the teacher's answer in case she forgot it (by asking more questions accordingly).... which brings me to my next query - Why can't people share knowledge as easily as they acquire it ? I once read the following analogy - If you and I have an apple each, and we exchange the apples, we still have one apple each ! But if we each have an idea, and exchange those ideas, then we each have two ideas !!! Sharing acquired knowledge is crucial. And somewhere along the lines of overtaking each other in the thirst for more and more knowledge, I feel we've forgotten that simple courtesy. We can't afford to be selfish in sharing knowledge, because the source that provides us with the same knowledge was not selfish at all.
We live today in the ultimate age for learning. There's all this knowledge just waiting to get into our heads. All we need to do is ask for it... with a simple, divine, non-complicated question. There are no stupid questions, only stupid people.
I leave you now -
ए सवाल.. तेरी अहमियत अगर भूलें,
बिगड़ जायेंगे हम , जितना भी धुलें,
रुक जाएगी प्रगति की यह पतली सी डोर,
सवाल न होते नालायक, होता पूछने वाला मोर ! - me
posted by Prateek Ranganathan at 9:13 AM
1 comments
