The Trip - Part 2

Like I said in the earlier post, Unmentionable and I had this crazy conversation on the way to South Bend that illuminated and enlightened our minds as to each other.

Turns out we are both weird -- but in different ways. We did know that before, (it's pretty obvious) but now we know it in a new way.

Unmentionable is the kind of person who should be in the army. He loves rules, directions, order. He would be the first to volunteer for a job asked by his superior. His motto would be "mine is not to ask why, mine is just to do or die".

For heaven's sake, the more I think about it, the more the man is made for the armed forces. He wears his hair in a buzz cut and gets up before dawn every day because he LIKES it. He may have missed his true calling.

Not so with me.

If he and I stood before a superior officer that said, "I need you to do __________."
Unmentionable's response: Sir, yes, SIR.
Mine: "Why?"

In our discussion, I explained that my first reaction to someone telling me to do something is "Why?" This is what drives me. A need to understand.

Unmentionable is baffled by this. He is absolutely floored that I could utter such a response to a command. To him, this is total disrespect. You do not question authority.

I do. And it is my natural state.

He was horrified. For him, to ask why to an authority figure is the pinnacle of arrogance and disrespect.

I laughed and said....but why?

He just about had a conniption. I tried to explain that it isn't arrogance, just a need to understand. If I don't understand then I won't know why I'm doing it. If you can't prove to me why I should do this and why it's the right thing to do, then I'm not doing it. Wait....that sounded a little arrogant.

But it's so true. My favourite question is why. Throughout highschool especially, I needed to understand. Why do I have do that? Why do I have to wear a long skirt every day to school? Why is my mark so low on this math test? If someone can't back up their position with a decent response then I figured I didn't really have to listen. Yikes.


Isn't that horrible? As we drove through the USA together, chatting about this, I began to realize what an awful teenager I must have been. I had no idea how frustrating it must have been to be an authority figure to me.

We laughed. No, I laughed and Unmentionable shook his head in disbelief. We wondered which of our children would inherit my trait and which would inherit his.

It was a light bulb moment. It made me laugh and it made me sad. Laugh because I think a lot of things are funny and sad because I may have been and still be a very frustrating person to teach, direct and lead.

And that was our conversation. Perhaps it was not that interesting to read but I needed to put it down on "paper" so I wouldn't forget.

The End.