Questions?

In my search for a writing prompt today, I came across this question: “What’s an industry secret in your line of work that most people don’t know?”

While I try not to be judgmental, I failed in this instance. My first thought was, “What idiot wrote this question?” My second thought was, “What idiot would answer this question?” My third thought was, “How can I use this in a blog?”

It made me wonder what other questions are floating around in the universe that could be considered stupid, silly, or spark creativity. An example that came to mind of silly was one my dad used to ask his nieces and nephews back in the 1970s. “Did your mom have any children that lived?” Usually, the question would catch them off guard and instead of replying with, “We all lived” we usually heard them respond, “No!” My dad would say. I didn’t think so,” laugh, and the kid would wander off clueless.

This reminds me though of questions that cannot be answered. “Have you stopped beating your wife?” Unless of course you are/were a wife beater. Along these lines there are plenty of “have you stopped” questions one could think up that are silly and have a limited audience.

This was one of the funniest question and response items I came across today: Question: Why do people ask stupid questions? Response: One might ask oneself this question. Self-reflection is a wonderful thing.

One of my favorite paradoxical questions is, “If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done?” I especially like this question because it reminds me of when I worked as a Mary Kay consultant. We had a challenge to get one hundred “no” answers to the question, “Would you like to book a skin care party?” I thought getting one hundred no answers would be easy. However, I had to stop at thirty-five “no” answers because I had so many parties booked and parties booking off of those parties that I didn’t have time to look for more “no” answers. My willingness to fail helped me become a sales Director.

Do you have a favorite question? If so, share!