The Challenge of "WHY?"

I was driving to an early call-time last Sunday morning.. Before sunrise. Dark-thirty. I flipped on the radio.. NPR.. talk-interview show. Some guy was explaining his take on the meaning of life. Between my thoughts of “I need coffee” and “where am I?”, I started listening to the conversation. The guy was saying, “...the important question to ask and answer about anything you do is, ‘Why?’ ”

Now, unless you’ve never contemplated the meaning of life before, you know this is the pertinent question. I’ve asked it many times as I sat down to plan. The 5 year plan. The career plan. The family plan.. The house plan...

It’s important, I get it.

But in the middle of my pompous, eye-rolling-head-nod, it suddenly dawned on me that in many areas of my life I had gone a long time without revisiting that question.

Why do I work where I work? Why do I do what I do? Why do I live where I live? Why? Why? Why?

Sure, I asked these questions at critical times when I started my job, nurtured my job skills, was house-hunting, etc.

It rarely occurs to me that I need to revisit those areas (and other areas) and ask the question again.

In Michigan, there are many people who are having to ask these questions again, out of necessity. In other words, the are looking for new jobs, careers, and houses.. because they lost the ones they had.

For myself, I still have a job, a career, a house.. but are the reasons I chose them still the same as today’s reasons?

Answer: NO!

Time to re-evaluate.. in fact, its always time to re-evaluate... actually, maybe its the wrong word... The word evaluate indicates something that can be accomplished, and I’m beginning to wonder if the process is much more dynamic than I ever assumed..


Use me while you can.