Why?

I can't help but chuckle when children ask why. Not the simple "Why?" "Because..." situation where the answer is understood and accepted; no, I'm talking about those situations where the kid asks "Why?" You know, with that little innocent look on his/her face that implores you to provide an answer. So you do. Inevitably the next word out of the child's mouth is, "Why?" This pattern then continues for quite sometime until frustrated your response is, "JUST BECAUSE!" I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

I remember being a kid with that same question. I remember asking why in reference to everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! I just wanted to understand and I knew that all around me there were people who knew. I mean, if you were taller than me that must mean that they knew. So I asked.

Looking back at that experience, and all the times that a child has asked me the seemingly simple question of "Why?", I can't help but think of the ensuing time where this questioning period comes to an end. That day that every parent of toddler yearns for: when the because is accepted without a follow up question. But reflecting on my own personal experience I can't help but wonder if that day ever really comes. Do we stop asking why, or do we just realize the frustration that such questions bring for others and keep silent? Do we stop looking for the why, or do we just start to do the looking on our own? I would argue that we merely stop asking why and begin wondering why. I mean, looking at my own experience I can't help but wonder how my teachers lived with me. I bet that for every day I had a certain class I asked at least 10 questions. I wanted to understand and that's the way that I've learned can guarantee either an answer or the supply of a way to find the answer.

But my experience isn't the only reason that I say the our yearning to understand the why isn't extinguished when we reach a certain age. I mean, how else would we have any of the inventions that we now take for granted, and many couldn't live with out. What led to the invention of the car? The question, "Why couldn't there be a way for this carriage to get us from point A to point B without horses?" Or what led to the invention of the phone if not the question of why do we need to leave our homes to speak with friends and family? And there is no way that a internet search engines would be as popular as they are if not for mankind's yearning to know why.

It seems to me that why is what all people search for, and many people let you think they know even when they don't. It is such an important thing to have up our sleeves; the reason WHY! But why not? If we limit ourselves to just the reasons why we will never understand what could have been. As satisfy that innate desire to understand by looking for the reason why, let's take it a step further and look for the why not in our unspoken dreams. Why?

Because every dream can be a reality.