Wandering Wonderings

Then sweet music sounded on the air, and the loud tones were hushed, as in wondering silence the Fairies waited what should come.”  Louisa May Alcott

A

few wonderings today… not Pet Peeves this time, just Wandering Wonderings, little curiosities and things that confuse me…

.

.

Do you often find yourself questioning in your mind like a child who incessantly asks, WHY?

There may be 7 famous Wonders of the World, but you and I know this is just the tip of the iceberg. Our planet is filled with countless wonders that call out for an answer, a solution to the why, to the how.

And thankfully in the these last 15 years or so we have a tsunami of information at our fingertips with the likes of GOOGLE and Wikipedia. Love ’em or hate ’em, they give us instant answers to our whys that help make us wise.

Here are a few of my recent wandering wonderings… I’m sure you could easily add a dozen yourself:

• Why does our education system allow, even encourage people to attend school for more than a decade without imparting a strong sense of reading, thinking, and discerning truth from fiction; to understand good quality research and evidence vs flimsy, poorly laid out analysis, or worse, opinion?
• After watching Jeopardy faithfully for how many years, why am I still only able to answer less than 50% of the “ANSWERS” correctly? Surely 60 questions and answers passing through my brain daily should leave me an expert in essentially every area of knowledge, and yet?? Do I need to order a new Brain Plug from Amazon to prevent the drain?

• After writing this blog for almost 10 years now without a cent of salary, no pennies of payment, no euros of royalty, no “exposure dollars” (as in for FREE), what bizarre mindset spurs me to continue to do this? Or for you my friends, to read this? Are we all part of a mass hypnosis?
• How will this planet find a solution to the nuclear blackmail that allows a despot to run roughshod over an invented enemy because he has a back pocket full of nukes to raze the globe over 10 times? Humanity needs to nose out a firm and long-term solution to unhinged brutality, or “hegemony by tyrant” will control this orb forever. Could this be our “meaning of life” moment?

• Why do some folks prioritize and respond to a text message in the middle of a conversation, or sitting for a meal in a group? How do you say BOOR?
• Why was I taught a good deal of European, Asian, and North American history and culture in my school days and yet so little about Africa and South America? I am shockingly ignorant on these countries, their history, languages and culture. It’s like whole continents never existed…
• In today’s world, why is OK that a woman could call handsome men up on stage and run her hands lasciviously over their bodies to applause. If I were to do something similar to women I’d be in a cell at Riker’s Island before I can say OSCAR. I’m totally in favour of the #MeToo movement, but I also subscribe to equality and fairness extended to all gender categories. Just wonderin’…

• When we know that certain foods and makeups etc contain known carcinogens, why do we allow their sale? Don’t answer… might it have something to do with corporate profit and government revenues?
• Why do some men do a hair combover with the expectation that no one will notice the baldness that lies beneath? You can fool some of the people some of the time…

• Why do all team sports protect and heavily penalize against fisticuffs (forget the boxing ring) except hockey where organizers actively stir the bloodlust of the beer-infused spectator? Will Smith has been banned from Oscar for 10 years for a slap… in hockey they just give you a 5 minute timeout for giving the other guy a concussion.

• What loving God would make sugar and bacon taste so good when they’re obviously the Devil’s food choices? Why doesn’t kale have the same “addictive” qualities?

I’ve been wanderin’ early and late
From New York City to the Golden Gate
And it don’t look like
I’ll ever stop my wanderin’… James Taylor

why? oh Why? Oh WHY?

Why?

Did I just hear you whisper… Because?

LIke many youngsters you may know in your world, this word… WHY… is my 3 year-old grandson’s favourite.

But WHY should we leave it to 3 year-olds to ask why…

Curiosity is a fabulous trait to carry us from the womb to the graveyard. I wish I was more deeply curious than I am…

Curiosity leads us on exciting journeys – opening doors that spring the world wide-open, like a can opener circling a can.

Learning and understanding make our world infinitesimally more enriching.

Today, I’ll take you on a random stroll through my WHY thoughts during a pandemic – and political era – that has taken my mind into a number of strange and scary places …

Feel free to share your own mind-bending WHY thoughts if you dare… let’s begin…

• Why do I always love the fragrant smell of pine or cedar woodsmoke when I’m camping, or lighting the woodstove on a chilly winter morn, but not so much when a wildfire is burning the same stuff in my valley and sending it wafting through my window at night?
• Why is correctly spelling words so natural and easy for me, but fixing a broken drainpipe in the kitchen is a monstrous logistical challenge far above my intellect? Why should I need a college diploma to do some typical home repairs?
• Why does the TV game show Jeopardy march out contestants who obviously know far less than me, while not accepting my test results and highlighting me on the show? It’s clearly blatant anti-Canadianism! Maybe it’s time to rehash the War of 1812!

• Why must I ALWAYS hold the phone to my left ear to hear properly and yet my hearing has been tested and works equally well on both sides? Have I unknowingly had a stroke?
• Why do I love the heady feeling of being soaked in sweat while working out vigorously, but hate the sensation of sweat on my skin 2 minutes after finishing the workout? 
• Why does my wife always know the plot direction (and killer/victim/bad guy/good guy) of a TV show or a movie in the first two minutes of the show and I’m still scratching my head in confusion at the end an hour later? Is it possible I’m NOT the sharpest knife in the drawer?
• Why do stock markets always rise meteorically or fall dramatically in direct reverse proportion to my confident prognostications and to the number of people with whom I boldly share these predictions?
• Why did Mother Nature give me a “near-perfect pitch” ear and a B string on my Martin guitar that absolutely refuses to EVER be tuned properly? This is the equivalent of musical “waterboarding”.
• Why must I wear a pair of pants, a pair of underwear, but women don’t have to wear a pair of bras? Gender inequality issues should go both ways, right?
• Why do I love the flavour of chocolate in bar form and in cakes, but not so much in ice cream? Does chocolate change its chemical form when chilled?

  

   
• Why do (some) people with dogs conscientiously gather up the pet’s faecal droppings in a plastic bag and then… set the bag at the side of the road!? Am I to believe this is someone generously offering free compost for the taking?
• Why has evolution made our bodies crave and create Vitamin D through sun exposure while simultaneously setting up the cancer store for melanoma? Does this have something to do with my song The Blessing And The Curse?
• Why am I finding ideas and thoughts to write blog posts about much more challenging during a time of enormous change and upheaval in the world eg. politics and health and science and technology? Could it be that ideas are often generated and stoked by the interactions we have with other people and the outside world?

“… Face it. Curiosity
will not cause us to die–
only lack of it will.
Never to want to see
the other side of the hill
or that improbable country
where living is an idyll
(although a probable hell)
would kill us all.
Only the curious
have, if they live, a tale
worth telling at all.” Alistair Reid