Ask…and you shall learn

We never get so old that we should stop asking questions. It's in the asking – and in listening – that we achieve advanced education.

What is education, after all – but allowing ourselves to expand our understanding of the world we live in.

Degrees are little more than pieces of paper that attest to our completion of a certain level of schooling and – in the process – hopefully have achieved a level of competence in being able to think intelligently.  Degrees are our commission giving us the authority to go forth and learn.

Actually, the older we get the more we should treasure our ability to ask questions. Because it's in asking questions that we discover just how much we don't know

Why?

Because everything in our known universe is in a constant state of change. That means that we cannot assume that we know anything for sure, until we ask questions and challenge what we know in light of what we experience at any given moment. . 

Country boundaries and names change, technology introduces new products and procedures on a daily basis, people grow and change, achieve new skills and deal with new challenges on a momentary basis. The truly educated individual understands that and is open to possibilities recognizing that he or she only sees a small piece of the puzzle – and must adapt to an ever changing universe.

So if I ask you questions, it's not because I'm stupid, it's that I am trying to learn and understand knowing that this is a lifelong challenge. More than that, the older I get, the more I discover how little I really do know after all.