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“There’s No Such Thing as a Stupid Question” Really?
The possibilities are endless
That ridiculous platitude was generated by some well-meaning educator as an invitation to reticent students to participate in her class.
Children
With little kids, almost any question is smart. The child’s guess is often more interesting than the adult’s version.
Children usually ask questions about which I’m totally clueless, so I have the freedom to make stuff up. “Hey Mama, see how that leaf is bright green? Why is the leaf right next to it brown?” But I have absolutely no imagination, so I usually can’t.
The pure curiosity of their questions is endlessly rewarding, with one exception. When they pummel you with the word,
“Why?”
They repeat it on an endless loop. They are never totally satisfied, and ask deep, impossible, “Why is the sky blue?” Your sorry answers generate more question after the next, until the adult is pushed into the corner of her knowledge and patience. In contrast to her ideal as an open, accepting grown up, she blurts out the authoritative,
“Because I said so!”
When my mother came to the end of her tolerance in addressing our urgent questions, she had two sayings for her six…
