Questions

I’m told the following was a milestone achievement in my life:

“This is fun!,” I said to my father, presumably while throwing around a ball of some sort.

Damn, what a first sentence. A pronoun, verb, and adjective all molded into a singular coherent thought.

But it came well into my third year of existence, so I was a little later to the party than some of my day-care peers.

I really didn’t master saying my own name until I was six or seven years old. Before that, kindergarten scared me -- especially after my fourth (I think) day, when my teacher randomly sent us home because of a plane attack in New York City*. After life returned to normalcy following that dreadful day, the narrative eventually changed and I put my days of slow learning in the rearview mirror.

I enrolled in accelerated courses in middle school (shout out to Mr. D and Ms. Blades). My proudest academic accomplishment came in my sophomore year when I received a 5 on the A.P. U.S. history exam after I spent the entire year preparing for it. I took more A.P. classes and finished out with an A average and managed to graduate top 60 in a class of 750+. On top of that, I played Shen basketball, a commitment requiring 46 weeks a year and like, every waking hour of the week.

In college, I got an A in every class, except for my freshman year nutrition class (which, ironically, I learned more in than any class I’ve ever taken). I graduated in my junior year after a semester abroad and an award for top student in the history department.

So, all of that being said, I enjoyed a very successful academic career.

But I sit here today, in an antique coffee shop in Avon, Conn., completely clueless in the world. I know nothing.

Seriously.

Sixteen years of formal education and I’ve only scratched the surface of everything I’ll ever learn.

I find myself in situations every day where I cannot explain what’s happening in front of me. Last week, I walked by construction workers hammering and sawing away on a new house on a 95 degree day. I thought to myself, “I could never do that,” as I observed, attempting to understand the physics and geometry involved in building a stable structure.

It frustrates me how little I know. I could easily resign to this and leave the pursuit of knowledge to the scholars and continue in my ignorant ways. But that would be too easy.

Before ordering this Brazilian dark coffee, I peppered the barista with questions about the art of coffee making and what differentiates one brew from another. I’ve only recently become a coffee drinker, and I’d love to know more about it. So I asked question after question about ideal roasting times, climate factors affecting taste and how cold brew is made.

We have to put aside our egos and recognize how little we don’t know. We cannot be discouraged and embarrassed by our lack of knowledge. View it as a challenge. Where there’s challenge, there’s opportunity -- opportunity to read more, to ask more, and to connect with others.

How do wells bring purified water into your home? I get that solar panels somehow absorb the sun’s energy, but how is that power harnessed and distributed?

I answer “I don’t know,” to these questions. I say it in not a defeated tone, but rather an embraceful one.

To improve ourselves and our well-being, we must always search for answers. Question everything -- why things happen, how things work, etc. And think about all of those people that you wave to every day in the halls of your workplace. Sure, you know what they’re like inside of your company’s walls, but do you really know them?

My favorite sports radio host, Colin Cowherd, says that to be a successful person, you must display two characteristics at all times.

No. 1: Discipline:  Doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, doing it do the best of your abilities, and doing it that way every single time (how could I forget, Coach Dzikas?).

No. 2: Curiosity: Showing a genuine interest in learning and self-improvement.

For our purposes today, latch on especially to the second trait.

Curiosity may kill the cat, but it paves the way for a better you.

*September 11, 2001. I was so young at the time that I didn’t understand the magnitude of what had happened. I don’t want it to come across like this wasn’t a big deal. Sending my best to all affected on that horrible day. #NeverForget



Troy Farkas is an aspiring writer. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @tfark04.

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