And then there are the other types of questions: the questions that you ask but don't receive an answer. You would like one, but the answer is just not forthcoming. Maybe they don't have an answer. Maybe the choose not to give you one. Maybe it doesn't warrant an answer. Maybe it's rhetoric. And maybe it's plain cop out... fear of sounding weak, stupid, or silly. Maybe they're afraid of the answer, and don't see it as a question. Whatever be the case, you get a lot of these in life. And you don't know what to do when you're the one asking those questions. Hell, you never know what to do when you're the one it is asked to. All you know is that, in either case, you'd rather be somewhere else, doing something else that is more "worthwhile". And the silence festers doubt... you doubt the veracity of enquiry... doubt the workings of your mind. And you blame yourself for the question: It was too harsh a question to ask. Maybe there is no answer to the question. Maybe it's not a question.
Cop outs are nothing new in life. Just ask Stephen King regarding his Dark Tower series (man, was that an abominable waste of time...), or the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). These luminaries have done it several times, and in the case of the latter, made a profession out of doing it with alarming regularity. Taking the easy way out has been man's (and woman, child, animal... plant, maybe? I don't know... they don't move much... it's hard to say) greatest ally in times of distress. Forget the samurai/ninja/ancient warfare teachings of a quick mind and sharp reflex being your greatest weapon in times of distress. They're now replaced with an easy escape route, the backdoor out, the trapdoor beneath your feet.
Taking the easy way out, paradoxically, is never easy. The guilt associated with it lives with you, and unless you develop shallowness, will stay with you for some time. And whether you can live with that guilt determines whether you're the person to run and hide or stand and fight (well, if that sounds dramatic, it's because I saw 300 yesterday... the rhino was a complete waste if you ask me... no carnage whatsoever). And if you're the one asking it.. don't doubt the veracity of your question, or the harshness of it. If it was a query, and a genuine one, then you did the right thing by voicing it. Be at peace with that knowledge. "The art of letting go was learnt easily, and quickly. Not by will, but not exactly by force." Letting go is never easy, nor is learning it. It's one way of dealing with things, but not the correct or only way. Some day, you'll realize that, and also realize....
... there was truth in what you said, reason in what you voiced, and a right to know in what you ask.
"Don't your feet get cold in the wintertime,
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine,
It's hard to tell the nighttime from the day.
And you're losin all your highs and lows,
Ain't it funny how the feelin' goes away?"
P.S. God bless Wikipedia... You have made my life amazingly easy. Now if only George Bush knew how to access it...
