50 questions that free your mind

As part of my Day Zero Project, I will be answering the 50 Questions That Free Your Mind. For each of these, I will blog an answer and then it will be linked here as well. Some of these will have longer responses, some will be extremely short. But by the end of the Day Zero Project, I will have answered all of these.

No. 27: Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?

OK, these questions are becoming sillier by the number.

To counter this question, I ask this — does the truth always have to be challenged?

This question makes me think that you should always challenge something that is thought to be the truth. I don’t buy it. Not one bit. So this is saying that I will not always be told the truth and that I shouldn’t believe someone at face value.

Or, is that reading too much into it?

My answer, obviously, is yes. Of course it’s possible to know the truth without challenging it first. Why?

Trust.

In this world mixed with many different humans, we have to trust — at least some. I’m not saying always, but there has to be some sort of trust.

As a journalist, we were taught the opposite. We should always question the truth (or anything else). One line I remember from college is the old “If you mother says she loves you, get a second source.”

The idea of that is to say that you can’t trust but one person.

It’s a notion I always disagreed with. I understood the idea of it in regard to a newspaper or media or something like that, but not everybody in this world has an agenda and is trying to screw somebody over.

Sometimes the truth is there and put out there without needing a challenge.

In this world, there’s too much questioning of people and what they do and if they have any bad intentions. Personally, I think it’s time we start trusting a bit more. Maybe I’m off by saying that, but that’s part of humanity now.

Maybe that’s why this question needs to be asked, too.

I’ll stick to how I think things. Sometimes, the truth does need to be questioned. Other times, I’ll trust and believe. And I like it that way.

So, yes, it is possible to know the truth without challenging it first.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! 

As part of my Day Zero Project, I will be answering the 50 Questions That Free Your Mind. For each of these, I will blog an answer and then it will be linked here as well. Some of these will have longer responses, some will be extremely short. But by the end of the Day Zero Project, I will have answered all of these.

No. 26: Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?

I can’t believe it’s been a couple of months since I last did one of these.

But, I have to be honest, I’m firmly convinced I won’t be finishing my Day Zero Project — for several reasons. But the biggest is the money factor. Some of the things I put on that list require money and with not having any, I won’t finish. That being said, I am going to still try my hardest and see how close I can get.

So back to the 50 Questions posts…

This question, like many of the others, is simply stupid. I understand what these questions are supposed to do. But it seems like they are worded way too crazy like.

In this position, I’m not sure what I would choose.

Old memories are good and bad. I love memories of family and things like that. But I would gladly erase memories of high school. I hated it back then. It was probably the worst overall time of my life. College was different. I loved it. So losing those memories would truly suck.

Still, are old memories that big?

Would you want to go through the rest of your life without being able to create new memories?

That’s debatable. I still consider myself in a time in life when making memories is something special. Especially as somebody who truly believes in photography. Photographs are major memory items, so what happens to all the photos I’ve taken before and to those I take in the future?

Tough one, eh?

In the end, I probably would keep the old memories. I think the family things — of those who have gone before us and other things — would be too tough to give up. Though I would hate the thought of not being able to make new memories, in the end I truly wouldn’t know, would I? I’d still have memories, they would just be older.

Thankfully, I don’t have to make this choice though.

I really should have looked closer at these questions before I committed to doing them. Some of the future ones are even more crazy or personal. With the personal ones, I’ll be tip-toeing around them a little. I’ll do my best to continue these in an honest way, but wow are some of them a bit nuts!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

As part of my Day Zero Project, I will be answering the 50 Questions That Free Your Mind. For each of these, I will blog an answer and then it will be linked here as well. Some of these will have longer responses, some will be extremely short. But by the end of the Day Zero Project, I will have answered all of these.

No. 25: What are you most grateful for?

Breathing.

I actually conemplated leaving the full post as the one-word answer, but I thought I should probably expand on it.

See, I’m grateful for breathing because it means I’m alive. And that, to me, is a good thing.

I often use one answer when people ask me “How are you doing?” That answer? “I’m breathing.”

I’ll use different ways of saying it — things like “I woke up on this side of the dirt” or “I didn’t see my name in the obits.” But, often, it’s just the “I’m still breathing.”

Life can suck. There’s no doubt about it.

My world isn’t great right now, as I’ve blogged about in the past. The employment world seems to be blocking me out, I’m not as active as I should be and I’m not in a situation I’m terribly happy about now.

But I’m breathing.

There are far worse alternatives.

Live is funny. It’ll throw you those awful pitches and you have to decide what to do with them. I’m trying and trying and trying to improve things. One day, it will happen. It has to. I’ll eventually look back on all of this and know I am stronger because of it. I can’d say all the feelings I’ve built toward some things and people will ever go away, but in the end, I’ll be stronger and better.

If I wasn’t breathing, that wouldn’t be possible.

I think of all the people who have it worse than me — and I don’t mean because of economics. Those who battle diseases. Those who have disabilities. Those who need help just to breathe. And I know, despite where I am in this world right now, it isn’t so bad.

So I’m grateful for a lot of things. But without one thing, everything else wouldn’t be possible.

Breathing.

As part of my Day Zero Project, I will be answering the 50 Questions That Free Your Mind. For each of these, I will blog an answer and then it will be linked here as well. Some of these will have longer responses, some will be extremely short. But by the end of the Day Zero Project, I will have answered all of these.

No. 24: Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?

Talk about looking at the world in a different way, eh?

This is tough because it seems like you wouldn’t lose touch with the first friend. Would they live away from you? Sure. But in this day and age, with the internet, texting, other talking apps on phones, many ways to travel etc., you’d at least keep in contact with said person.

Now, if you said a good friend moves away and you lose touch, different story.

However, it seems like the only one you are losing touch with, in this situation, is the person who lives near you. So, that would be my answer.

See, it’s tough when things like this happen because sometimes reasons aren’t known. Maybe there was a fight. Maybe life trials have just done things to make two people lose touch. Maybe it’s just a natural progression. But either way, when you have a good friend who still lives near by and you lose touch, it’s odd.

I think it would really depend on the circumstances of things, but that has to be the worse of these two choices.

Take for example said friend who still lives near you.

You know they are around. You know what kind of friend they used to be. And you know how it is now. Maybe you’ll pass one another in the store or at the gas station. Is it awkward? I would imagine so. Is there hatred? Maybe. What else could be the problem? Only you two — or maybe one of you — know.

It’s harder because of the possibility that you could run into that person. That, to me, makes it worse.

On the flip side, the good friend who moves away. If this friend moved away for good reasons — family, new job, whatever else — it’s good. You still keep in touch and when you get to meet up with said friend, however often that may be, it’s a special and fun time. That makes those moments better and exciting. And that’s a good thing.

Though it would stink to have either of these situations happen, they do happen. It’s part of life. But if posed with this question, the second option is definitely the worse of the two.