As children, we question absolutely everything: Why is the sky blue? Why do things work this way? But at some point in life, we simply stop asking so many questions. As we grow older, something changes. And little by little, we replace curiosity and questioning with acceptance.
We wake up, study, work, go out, fulfill our responsibilities, and repeat it all day after day, as if our lives had been written according to a script long before we were born. We learn that we should get good grades, go to college, find a good job, get married, have children, and so on. There is nothing wrong with these goals, but the problem arises when we fail to ask ourselves whether they truly reflect what we want for our own lives.
the Comfort of Not ThinkingΒ
Reflecting on our choices, values and goals can lead us to conclusions that challenge everything we believe. Because of that, it is often easier to simply accept the world as it has been presented to us, than to question it.
Questioning requires effort, but avoiding it creates a temporary sense of comfort. The problem is that this comfort can distance us from who we truly are, from the reality around us, and from the way we respond to the events unfolding in the world.
We are inserted in a reality with unprecedented access to information. Still, we seem to be becoming increasingly indifferent. Within seconds, we can open a social media app, read about conflicts, crises, and disasters, and then immediately watch a funny video or the latest TikTok trend. This does not necessarily mean that we do not care; rather, we have been exposed to so many tragedies that the extraordinary has begun to feel ordinary.
taking Courage to QuestionΒ
Questions have the power to transform because they force us to take a second look at what we consider obvious. When we question what seems normal, we create space for new perspectives and changes. Some of the greatest transformations in history happened because people refused to accept certain realities. Movements for civil rights, gender equality, political participation, and social justice were born because individuals had the courage to ask questions.
However, when faced with problems of such magnitude in today’s world, feelings of powerlessness have become increasingly often. When we convince ourselves that we cannot change anything, we stop trying and lose hope. And when we stop trying, we strengthen the very things we wish to transform. Change rarely begins with grand gestures; it begins when someone refuses to accept an injustice as normal and chooses instead, to become informed, engage in dialogue, participate, and take action.
Beginning of ChangeΒ
If we continue living without reflecting, questioning or taking action, chaos will continue to grow. Not because it is inevitable, but because passivity allows it to thrive. Questioning is an act of courage, in which it means refusing blind acceptance and recognizing that the world can be different, just as our role within it can be transformative as well.
Perhaps, we cannot change everything. But we can begin by doing something we have neglected for a long time: stopping, observing, and asking questions. After all, living should not simply mean checking off milestones or following paths that have already been laid out for us.
When we stop questioning our own direction, we risk pursuing dreams that were never truly ours and accepting realities that we have never taken the time to examine.
Questioning does not mean having all the answers. It means being willing to search for them. And it is through that search that new perspectives, new possibilities and the very changes we hope to see in the world begin to emerge.
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The article above was edited and translated by Ana Beatriz Carvalho Sapata.
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