daily java

Daily Java:

The wise are glad to be instructed,
      but babbling fools fall flat on their faces. (Proverbs 10:9)

I was a boy with my parents going through something, I don’t remember what. It was a museum or exhibit of some kind. A man who was friends with my father asked the guide what seemed to me to be an elementary question. I don’t know if I already knew the answer or if I just wanted to feel superior, but I asked my father why he asked such a (to me) silly question

My father replied something to the order of “There is no such thing as a silly question.” I have found that over the years that is not always true, but it is true 98% of the time. He also told me that the man I had mentioned was one of the smartest men he knew with several degrees from college. He knew a lot already and now that he had asked his question, knew some more.

I have found that if I do not know the answer to something, chances are high that a lot of others don’t know it either. And the odds say that the vast majority of people are afraid of asking for fear of engendering just such a response as the one I gave my father. They do not want to look stupid by asking a “silly question” but don’t know what else to do.

So because they don’t know something but also don’t have courage enough to ask, they don’t know the answer.

So I started to ask questions. Sometimes the questions are welcomed. Most people enjoy explaining things to others. It makes the feel smart to know what you do not know and to tell you their information.

Of course, there is the person who feels superior to you because they know and try to ride that feeling of superiority by making you look small. They are knowledgeable fools.

But you can still learn from them.

I have also noticed that when I ask a question, most of the group I am with will look at the person guiding us with an expectant look on their faces. What teacher doesn’t enjoy seeing that on their listeners’ faces?

Many times, if not most of the time, if I had not asked the question, they would not have known.

Sure I look a little foolish for not knowing a simple thing like that. Maybe everybody else in the room knows it except me. But I have a thirst for knowledge and want to know too. My ignorance may surprise that group, but at least in the next group that is talking about whatever I didn’t know, I will know what I am talking about.

I asked a friend the other day a simple question like that. Everybody knew what they were talking about except me. I had never participated in that particular activity but it interested me. I asked, it surprised a couple, but my friend just told me the answer. Now I knew too.

I could have looked knowledgeable and cool and been ignorant. Or I could have asked the question and known.

I ask people about themselves and where they are from, what they do for an occupation, all the things that interest me. And I have found that people love to talk about themselves. It is each person’s favorite subject. They talk for a long time. My son says I ask too many questions. But he also admits that when we leave he knows a lot about somebody he would not have known otherwise.

Another preacher friend says he doesn’t like to do so, so it always surprises him when I tell him something new about his members that I have asked that person.

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. I like to know and don’t mind looking ignorant to find out. And I find that I know far more things than the average person. Most of them are somewhat worthless, but still, I know them.

Am I better off? Maybe. Maybe not. But I will continue to ask questions, and be instructed.