But Why?

It is perhaps one of the most dreaded toddler phrases, repeated over and over as a child navigates the world with endless questions.
 
Somewhere along the way, we humans start spending much less of our time asking "why?" and much more asking "how?" How can we get into the right schools and the right circles? How can we make more money? How can we advance our careers? How do we balance any of this with personal and family life? We learn how to answer the "how," coming up with new strategies and new pathways, and quite often, we succeed. But rarely, along our path of "how," do we stop to ask ourselves that favorite toddler question of "why."
 
So, that means we get a lot done, right? And that we are far less irritating than all those "but why?" toddlers, right? Maybe. But when we go through life just figuring out "how," and never asking "why," we run the risk of going down all sorts of paths with no particular reason for what we are doing. We chase--and capture--the money that seems good or the title that seems prestigious, but do we stop to think what either of these actually means? We acquire what we say we wanted, but are often left wondering what it was exactly that we actually wanted.
 
While not every decision we make, job we choose, path we take has to make complete sense, we have a much better chance of making all of those paths and decisions worthwhile if, at least once in a while, we let the toddler in us out. We can make something work, "but why?" We can try a new job or a new schedule, "but why?" We can aim for the top, but the top won't matter much if we never ask--and answer--the question "but why?"
 
"But why" helps us understand our world. "But why" slows things down long enough for us to process new things. "But why" gives us the time to make choices, rather than just make things work.
 
So once in a while, perhaps we should take a lesson from our younger selves. A little "but why?" may go a long way.