"Why" or "Why Not"
Energy is driven from
the mind when one wants to accomplish a task. For me personally, I derive the
most energy when I hear the “Why?” When people ask “why” or “why not”, they are
second-guessing the decision. The only time you should be asking “Why” or “Why
not” is when you are contemplating whether or not you should move forward with
a decision. For example, if you ask your friends, “How about we all create our
own club at school to prevent bullying?” The person who says “Why” is most
likely in a state of mind where they have no desire to agree with you. The
person who responds by saying “Why not” is likely in the middle with your idea
and is carefree whether or not you follow through with the decision. Therefore,
in my situation, people who respond with “Why” disappoint me because they
immediately ‘close the door’ to opportunities. They do not have a desire to
listen to your idea and if it was thoughtful, they do not have any sympathy.
Those who say “Why” are not leaders because they are not striving to make
changes or listen to the voices of others. I become encapsulated with energy
when I think of an intelligent plan or idea that can benefit a large amount of
people and then someone says, “Why do that.” I feel disappointed in their
remark because they did not allow me to express my idea. Instead, they just
used a simple word, “Why” so that my idea would fall to the ground and diminish
in its likelihood to be agreed upon by the rest of the group. What touches me
the most is that those who use “Why” constantly are the ones who are too lazy
to reach out and find solutions on their own. In terms of associating these
people with students in our school, these are the students who have no desire
to succeed or are the ones who do not care about what they do with their life.
They have opportunities to be successful and go forth with creative ideas, but
they would rather say, “Why” and not advance in their knowledge. Asking “Why” to the teacher for assistance
and clarification on how to do a math problem is beneficial and exemplifies how
a student is striving to learn, but using “Why” as an excuse not to reach out
and find the information on your own is detrimental to one’s education and to
the people around them. This creates a dependency on one another for information
and answers. For instance, if a student did not read a book that they were
supposed to read for their summer reading project, they might reach out to a
friend for help. They will likely ask, “What is the summary of the book and who
were the main characters.” After
receiving answers, they may respond with, “But why did that happen, why did he
keep going, why did the author do that, or why did that person die at the end.”
Students who are not prepared will ask several “Why” questions that will
illustrate their lack of preparation for the class and this is a beginning step
in the idea of students not understanding their core classes. In effect,
students will hinder the learning of students who did complete their work
because those who were not prepared will take up a majority of the class time
asking “Why” questions. In essence, receiving the question “Why” is what fuels
my energy and leads me to extensive conversations on why asking “Why” is
detrimental in several ways.
-Austin McClain Baker
Austin Baker
Twitter: @ABakerPresident
Email: DreamsDriveDetermination@gmail.com
