I write my first blog with the question, "What if"? And you may be thinking what if, what? That's where I was stumped. Our lives and our experiences shape this very question we ask. From time to time and at varying intervals of life our curiosity drives the varied developments of this question. For me, as a husband, father, son, son-in-law, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, nephew, grandson, cousin, god-child, godfather, cousin, friend, colleague, stranger. I have asked many different "take-offs' of this "What if" question. All with very different answers to the subsequent . . . after the what if.
Here is the rub: The question is forward looking. It forces us (and those around us) to imagine positive and negative potential outcomes to what we are asking. I submit the "What if" is the most powerful question combination to determine, or at a minimum shape, outcomes. To me, the why is kind of the explanation question or sometimes the justification. What, is the clarifier, it provides the detail, the color if you will. How defines the mode, the mechanism, the chain of events. Who (with the exception of owls) identifies the person, people or groups.
Some of my favorite and yes not so normal "What if" questions are:
- What if they hokey pokey is what its all about?
- What if all the raindrops were lemon drops & gum drops?
- What if you helped everyone get what they wanted?
- What if I won the lottery?
- What if I got cancer?
- What if my family was in a car accident?
When I meant favorites, some are the questions that continue to gnaw at me, not that i love thinking about them. Does it change how we act, make decisions, treat others? Not sure. What i am sure of is that if we don't ask the "What if" questions. Our perspectives and for that matter, our lives would not change. Or would they?
What if they did?
What if they didn't?
