Blog 602 – 04.14.2017

Why?

Last week I posted a piece called, “The Four W’s And H” (Who, What, when Where and How).” I think I may have left out the fifth important W. Writing like living is a continuous improvement process. Writing like life is not set in stone and course corrections and mistakes are inevitable and there is no shame in retractions or corrections. The shame is when we know something is off or wrong and we do not take the time to fix it. Book writers usually wait to correct misspellings and errors in subsequent editions but bloggers have the ability to edit blogs after posting or as in this case to simply write another blog to correct the error or omission. I heard someone say that it pays to keep one’s reverse gear greased because you will probably need to use it a lot in life. Love may indeed mean you never have to say you’re sorry but real love is quick to forgive and even quicker to ask for forgiveness. I borrowed that last line from The Shack where they are describing the great change in Mac after a weekend at the Shack with Papa helped him get passed the great sadness in his life. Please don’t let what religious folks think keep you from seeing or reading The Shack. And if you are “religious folk”  please don’t let what us “non-religious folk” think of it keep you from seeing in the book and the movie story what you like or from joying it too.

But why did I leave out “Why” in the recent blog? Just an oversight or maybe something in me knew that I needed to devote a separate blog just to cover that little big word, Why. It is probably the first question most children pose. “Why, Mommy, why?” or “But, why, Daddy?” And their follow up questions to our all too frequently unclear or incomplete answers are also, “Why?” As a quality professional for many years I learned that one of the best techniques for getting at the true root cause of a quality problem is to ask why five times. Quick or surface answers seldom get to the bottom or underlying issues where the real answers are to be found. Children instinctively know that and seldom let us off so easily with a single why or a pat answer. Did you ever hear yourself say to a child after a barrage of why’s, “That’s just the way it is” or “Because I said so.”? Those are just cop outs to be sure as are “Ask your Mama” or Ask your Dad.” I love the one that says, “If mom or dad says no just ask grandma or grandpa.” Yes, it is funny that grandma and grandpa seem to remember the answer that kids are looking for even though they may have forgotten a lot of other things. That answer is, “Yes.”

And the real curiosity behind the why questions stems from a particular why question, “Why am I here?” The answer being – to be loved and to love, to learn love. The follow up question is, “Am I really worthy of love and does anybody really love me?” The resounding answer from the Universe is, “Oh, yes, my child.” But why, Daddy, why? Because I made you for no other reason than to pour my love out on you and to teach you that you feel love most when you are giving it away. But, why, Daddy? Because that is how I made it. You only feel love when you open you heart and when you open your heart you find it is so full of Me, of Love, that it leaks out on you and others when you do, and it feels so good you just have to keep on doing it. Why not?

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White