Answers

“Answers: 25 cents. Right Answers: 50 cents.  Dumb looks still free.”

-poster in my dad’s television repair shop

            

Children seem to come into the world asking questions. Why? When? Where? How? Are we there yet? Adults don’t stop asking, they just get more sophisticated in their interrogative adventures. Aside from the mundane “When is supper?”, and “What’s for dinner? “, I only really struggle with 4 major categories. These are in no real order of significance, just in the order they came to mind.

Tough Answers.

            As a science teacher I know all too well the joys of mental mathematical gymnastics. For those sympathetic to number crunching, I have only two suggestions. Clutter your mind with only the formulas and processes that you really need; and make friends with your calculator!

As to the first, I remember being surprised as a teen that my dad didn’t have certain “every day” facts (funny, I can’t even remember what they were) memorized for instant retrieval. As a television repair man, he had to know a volume of “tube” numbers and other parts and lists (yes, I am that old and I do remember TV’s with tubes) by heart to work efficiently on service calls. That was his trade. Since these were “important”, he decided not to clutter his mind with other non-essentials. Yet he was a great father. He knew that trade very well. He studied the art of fishing and passed it on to his children. He didn’t know all the MLB baseball teams with their respective cities by heart. Personally, I think he made wise choices.

Regarding the second, use technology to its fullest. As far as I’m concerned, spell check is one of the greatest inventions of the 20^th century. I still don’t understand why it had to wait until after I finished college to appear. Learn how to use your tools. Learn where to find information. Learn to READ! You will probably never be put in a white room with four bare walls and be told to invent something. You will be given books, manuals, and software with help files (that few ever read). Make friends with knowledge.

Things that don't have an answer.

            As a Bible major in college, we spent many hours in and out of the classroom discussing many things. Some were deep. Some were, well, stupid. I have come to the realization that If we could find all the answers to all the questions, we would be God. As a scientist, I want to know. As a human I may never find the answer. Actually, this thought is very encouraging to me. I don’t have to have answers for everything. It allows me to sleep better at night, knowing that some things are God’s problems.

Answers we don't want to hear.

            I hope deep down, you are a “truth seeker”. Never be afraid of the truth. I can honestly say there are times that I don’t like the truth, but I never want to become a person who rejects it. Start with the Scriptures. God is truth. Go from there. Don’t be in a hurry. You make most of your mistakes when you rush. Pray, meditate, and ask God for wisdom. It’s ok to cringe when you realize truth for the first time. It’s not always fun, or convenient, or easy. It may even be painful. Yet it is the best way, the only way. Embrace it. Share it. Live it. Otherwise, your life is just a meaningless, worthless, lie. 

Answers that we just don't listen to.

            There are still those who, even when confronted with the truth, continue on in their present course. It could be as simple as believing in “wives’ tales” or “urban legends”. These have become the bane of email everywhere. With multiple internet resources dedicated to just this subject, you would think they would stop quickly. I guess people either don’t take the time to check or don’t really want to know the truth. Either way it causes the thinking people of the world much grief. Check it out first!

            A more serious form is the rejection of truth altogether. It could be in the form of prejudice, or just mental blindness. The damage done to lives and property throughout even recent human history in the name of these two seems incalculable. Science, both secular and Christian, has been plagued through the ages with those incapable of discerning the difference between truth, error, theory, and what is still undecided.

So what will you do with all of this? Now there’s a question that only you can answer!