This Is Why You Must Ask Why

Do you just digest everything you were told or “learned” or do you take the bold step to challenge the knowledge you have been served?

Lemme tell you a little bit of my past experience back then as a fresh man in High School.

We had this particular Math teacher by the name, Mr. Monday, I was in JSS 1 class at that time. He was taking us on one of his Maths classes when he paused the lesson and challenged us to always ask questions especially this one question...👇

Then he wrote those 3 letter words in caps on the board. He said that question is the most powerful question in the world. He also said those 3 letter words alone was what caused World War II.

I bet no one understood a thing about anything he said at that time including myself, I was just a little over 10 years at that time and didn’t even really like Mr. Monday himself but somehow that brief lesson on asking 'why' stuck to my memory.

So how could an ordinary question like WHY cause war? How does a harmless question like 'WHY' carry so much power?  Did people just begun to ask themselves why and started killing each other with guns and ballistic missiles? Does that make any sense? Maybe!

Anyways I’m 20 years old now and I can say I now know better than I did 10 years ago!

The question why can  be used to provoke transformation (NB: not always a positive change), it is actually used to challenge the status quo. 

Prior to the second war, Germany's military was reduced to almost nothing, they were at a point forbidden from recruiting more soldiers to their already weakened army, they were in the middle of an economic meltdown and were at the mercies of other neighbouring countries for aids. Then one man who was just one of the many soldiers that fought for Germany in the First World War asked 'WHY'. He asked 'WHY do the Jews control majority of the financial institutions, banks and big companies?' 'Why aren't we allowed to recruit men into our army? Why are we not allowed to reclaim lost land and territories?' 'Why aren't we allowed to be a world power like we once were?' This man was...

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was responsible for one of the bloodiest times in History, he was able to influence millions of people to achieve a common goal and which was in part to make Germany a World power once again and yea to also fight as many people as possible who stood in their way, it's quite overwhelming that one man could influence people to lay down their lives for a narcissistic cause like his. Ever since he asked that 'why' question, the world has never been the same again.

This is one example of someone who challenged the status quo, someone who asked why and this led to one of the bloodiest wars mankind has ever witnessed, the World War II which led to the death of almost 80 million people and about 6 million Jews.(Please note I’m in no support of his extremist ideas neither do I subscribe to his anti-Semitic agenda)

He asked WHY and that happened. A World War.

The WHY question always makes you a rebel to the system and it is really your choice to become a rebel for a positive cause or a negative one as Hitler was.

Martin Luther King Jr.

One man who still inspires generations and will continue to inspire the generations to come is Martin Luther King, the Leader of the Civil Rights Movements. He was one man who asked WHY and the World has never forgotten him. He asked 'why couldn’t the Whites and Blacks be treated equally?' 'WHY couldn’t our kids go to the same school as White kids?' 'WHY can’t Black people own lands?' 'WHY can’t we get jobs?' 'We are both humans, flesh and blood, just different skin colours, WHY are we not treated equally?'

Martin Luther King led a Civil Rights Movements, he was influential enough to lead millions of Blacks to walk on the streets with him in protest of the unfair treatments by the White supremacist government on blacks. His words today “I have a dream” reverberates in everyone’s subconscious even till today. He stood out, he asked why. It made him a leader!

When you dare to ask why, you separate yourself from all conformists, human beings actually love to follow. We are social beings, standing out from the crowd FOR AN ASSERTIVE reason automatically makes people want follow you. The effect is staggering.

Questions should be asked all the time, especially the 'WHY' question, it is the question that births the 'HOW' and 'WHAT' questions. Start with 'why' to stand out. This can be applied to daily decision-making, business, advertising and life as a whole.

Image source: theluckystrike.co.uk

I and a friend of mine are in almost all messaging apps but we mostly converse in just one app; WhatsApp, there is Google Hangout which is not bad at all, there's also Google Allo which is much cooler, nice UX, interesting and fun features but we never talk there and not just us, the majority of people.

The question here "WHY SHOULD WE BOTHER CHATTING ON GOOGLE HANG OUT WHEN WE ALREADY HAVE WHATSAPP?". Therefore Google and other messaging app software must provide a convincing answer to our 'why' before we see can consider using it. Not even because other messaging apps asides WhatsApp are bad, they are in fact cooler but the WHY question has just not been properly answered. They actually never really addressed the WHY.

There are thousands of examples of people who dare to ask 'why' they are the ones responsible for one of the greatest innovations and accomplishments of our world today, they in fact made life better. One of those people is...

Steve Jobs

You already know who he is but read the short but powerful tagline of the Apple company: “Think DIFFERENTLY”. Ain’t that rebellious enough?

Also, digest this quote from Jobs…

“The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.”

The main reason why Apple still manages to edge their competitors is because they started with the ‘Why’. The iPhone was not produced just because Steve Jobs or his board members had the resources to produce one BUT because they saw a need WHY people should use smarter phones to make their lives more convenient. This alone puts them in a different class and their products will always carry an iota of uniqueness because they are not producing to beat competition but to stand out from the competition. So far it has always been Mac vs PCs, iPhones vs Andriod and not Mac vs HP or iPhone vs Sony(although I must confess Samsung are really giving them a go for their money).

Elon Musk

Photo credit: Foundation.kr

Do you know who Elon Musk is? He is the founder of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. He was the founder of PayPal –which made it much easier for people to send and receive money globally -before later selling it out to eBay for $1.5billion.

He asked why, he still asks why till today. 'Why can’t we save fuel and produce all electric, faster and even cheaper cars?' -His company, Tesla produced an all electric sports car which is faster than a Buggatti Chiron and sells for about the quarter of a price of a Chiron. 'Why can't we go to space like we are going for an excursion?' -Thus launched the SpaceX company which even NASA can't do without today.

Recently, the Tesla Semi was introduced, this truck is much faster, safer and cheaper than a usual diesel truck. It even has the ability to charge on pure sunlight without ever having to stop by for charge thus boosting productivity. Isn’t that amazing? There are several other truck manufacturing companies but nothing beats that!

Away from Tesla, there is also this set of people asking a BIG WHY, they reside somewhere in Asia, they are the North Koreans and their WHY is threatening to cause another chaos just like the World War II, they are ruled by a very troublesome autocratic leader;

Kim Jung Un

Kim Jung Un is asking ‘WHY are we not allowed to test Nuclear weapons?’ Why must the US try to oppress us? We hate it! How can we stop them from oppressing us? What can we do to stop them from oppressing us, bomb them?

He was probably smart enough to figure out that the world powers all possess nuclear weapons and in a quest to speedily make his country a world power he his investing heavily in testing nuclear weapons, neglecting other important sectors like electricity, good roads and technology. Obviously his quest for nuclear weapon parity with other developed nations has not gone down so well with many nations of the world most especially the US. 

Recently they claimed they have finally built a long-range missile capable of reaching the West side of the US. So far, there have been so many back and forth threats from him and Donald Trump, at one point Donald Trump claiming he will have no choice but to "totally destroy North Korea" with Kim Jung Un giving an equally frightening threat of his own. Both sides however may actually be waiting on who would draw the first blood. 

Either way, asking why provokes change, do not just be a conformist, do not be mediocre, ask WHY and ask why all the time, challenge what you have been taught! We give praises to all long-dead Isaac Newton but sometimes we forget it was by daring to ask why we talk about him till this day. Asking why makes you look or new ways, it is that question that births facts and universal truth. 

Isaac Newton asked WHY does everything that goes up have to come down? Who asked such questions before him? You must begin to challenge what you think you know. Challenge things you read by asking why. Just like you can’t be a good mathematician without asking why you also cannot be stand out if you can’t ask why.

I have a strong feeling that the power to ask why always is what separates great leaders and normal people. Do you always ask why? No? Do you want to remain a conformist? The choice is yours.

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