When in doubt, ask.

Just the other day, a friend forwarded me an audio clip of a conversation between a lady and a doctor. The lady had called up the doctor to enquire if one can contract the coronavirus over the phone by talking to a CoVid positive patient. Predictably the doctor could not control his laughter and asked her about the source of this information. The lady candidly confessed that it was her mother who said that, and she, having her doubts thought it best to fact-check with the doctor. The doctor told the lady that the virus does not spread over the phone and if that would have been the case, then he should have been dead by now owing to the fact that he talks to CoVid patients day in day out.

This clip did leave me in splits but when I gave it more thought, I ended up doffing my hat to the lady. The fact that she decided to call the doctor (a competent person) with this question (however stupid it may seem to us), instead of taking it at face value and maybe spreading (mis)information forward deserves a lot of credit.

In today’s age where information is being made palatable to suit our tastes, the line between fact and fiction has become blurry making it imperative for us to question. Often times we are bogged down  with thoughts like “Is my question intelligent enough?”, “Will I seem stupid posing the question?” etc. Our best interests lie in getting rid of these thoughts and forging ahead with getting the answer to our question. The worst that could happen is that you might not get an answer but you will still be free to ask again to someone else.

As a kid I was always encouraged to question and also to first try and find the answers myself. The rationale which later became clear to me, was that the added effort put in finding the answer made sure that I treasured it. 

Now when I listen back to the audio clip, I am sure that the lady would spread the right information and at the same time encourage anybody and everybody to question. Just imagine the positive change asking a question would bring about then.