WILL THERE EVER BE A DAY?


     My students often asked me some of the craziest, unanswerable questions.  How many hours are
there in a mile?  Is red square or round?  Do fish get thirsty? Can you cry underwater? How do you write zeroes in Roman numerals? Why doesn’t glue stick to the inside of the bottle?  My young students were both baffled and intrigued by the unanswerable questions they posed me.   


Likewise, we adults pose some pretty baffling, unanswerable questions:  


·        Why are there exceptions to every rule? Exceptions make no sense to us even though nothing comes with 100% predictability.


·        Is the universe finite or infinite?  If we traveled to the outer edges of the universe, would we run smack dab into another universe?  How could we tell? Would the other universe be a different color, operate with a different set of rules, or smell like almonds?  How would we know?


·        Why does anything exist? Before there was something, there was nothing.  And out of nothing, how did we get something? What existed before the big bang? before creation? before God? 
 

·        Why does time exist?  Time is the sound of a metronome ticking in   But much like fish that can’t understand water because they’re in it all the time, we have a very poor grasp of our most immersive of all substances—time.  
our heads, the beating of our hearts, and the circadian cycles governing our lives.


·        Why are humans so fallible? Of all the species on planet Earth, we’re the least predictable, most destructive, and most consumptive.  Yet, we’re also the most curious, most aware, most innovative, and the most likely to waste countless hours playing video games.


·        Why is the future unknowable?  Yes, a known future will strip us of our motivation, but  
understanding that consequence doesn’t explain why the future isn’t knowable.


So, will there ever be a day when all our unanswered questions are answered?  I doubt so, for we humans need the mystery and intrigue of the unanswerable to keep us humble.  Life itself, it seems, is an unanswered question; and we need the humility inherent in even that question.


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