“Why” Has Its Place in Adding Context and Understanding

We’re all familiar with the famous George Bernard Shaw quote: “You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?”

While I truly love this quote, and believe in all it advocates, there remains arguably much to learn in the question “Why?” For why seeks context. Why seeks clarity. Why offers some homage to the decisions of the past. Why seeks first to understand.

As Stephen Covey wrote, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

Why simply seeks some knowledge of the past. As we continue the quote-fest herein, Dan Sullivan noted that “All progress begins by telling the truth.”

My interest in history, in the past, most certainly grows as I get older. And yet, the way I employ my knowledge of the past – to whatever extent said knowledge exists – also continues to evolve.

There’s the school of thought that follows George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But another school of thought advocates our ability to make the future whatever we so choose, and by continued focus on the past, we actually increase our chances of repeating it. I tend towards the latter of these two opposing views.

So why all this focus on why? Well, because I had an astounding “why” experience a few days ago. I’ll get back to that later. For now, if we employ “how” for a moment, how might why help us all in our daily lives?

The answer, of course, lies above: context, clarity, understanding, the truth.

For example, when someone does something that disappoints you, angers you, frustrates you, etc., do you ask why he/she/they did so? Do you truly ask why, in an effort to understand?

When someone teaches you something, like a new skill, do you ask why it’s best to perform the skill the way that is taught?

Now to our golf games, where why can be quite powerful!

Do you ask why you don’t consistently hit the ball straight? Do you ask why you don’t consistently make all putts within five feet? When you take a lesson and are taught a new skill, do you ask why?

Don’t get me wrong, I continue to advocate the power of “how” questions as well, such as “How do I learn to hit the ball straight consistently?” But why helps us with context, and knowledge of the past.

I noted above that I recently enjoyed an astounding “why” experience. My father was notorious for not wanting to leave tips. This was most pronounced, and from my perspective also embarrassing, in restaurants. He’d often begrudgingly leave a quarter or two after a meal of $50 or $100. I would often lag behind and discreetly leave more, only to invariably be caught by his watchful eye.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I picked up some of his old Boy Scout books, dusted them off, and asked my mother if I might bring a few back to my Kitchener home to peruse. She agreed of course, and so on Tuesday evening of this week my two boys and I flipped through a couple of these mid-1940’s Boy Scout books.

And what did we find on page 174 of Scouting for Boys, written by Lord Baden-Powell himself, published by C. Arthur Pearson Ltd., in and around 1940?

Then “tips” are a very bad thing.
Wherever you go, people want to be “tipped” for doing the slightest thing which they ought to do out of common good feeling. A scout will never accept a “tip,” even if it is offered him, unless it is to pay for work done. It is often difficult to refuse, but for a scout it is easy. He has only to say, “Thank you very much, but I am a scout, and our rules don’t allow us to accept anything for doing a good turn.”
“Tips” put you on a wrong footing with everyone.
You cannot work in a friendly way with a man if you are thinking how much “tip” you are going to get out of him, or he is thinking how much he’ll have to “tip” you. And all scout’s work for another ought to be done in a friendly way.
I have had a number of letters of admiration for the scouts in many parts of the country on account of their doing good acts and then declining to be tipped for them. I am very glad to hear it, scouts.
Of course, proper pay that is earned by your works in another thing, and you will be right to accept it.

So there you have it. The point is not whether one agrees with the answer to why, but rather the context and understanding offered when one asks “why.”