“Yours is not to questions why…” (Tennyson?)

Why not? Why can’t I question?   

Why do you ask? Why do you care?  Why do you think that? 

I want to know the why of everything. I want to understand.  I care about what you think and why you think that way.  It doesn't matter to me what you think about me, I don’t have to convince you of why I think the way I do.  If you tell me why you think the way You do, maybe I’ll see things differently.  I want to know what you think about the world, life, yourself.  Make me understand.

“Hihowareyou”? “How are you today?” “Hey! How are you doing?”

People spit that out as if they really heard what they are asking, as if they really cared what the answer was.

What if the person in front of them told them that they just dropped their daughter off at college and missed her so much that they couldn’t even say her name without crying?

Would they roll their eyes at the lady who would answer “My cat just died, and he was the only company I had.”

Would they yell inside themselves “Jesus Christ! Get me the hell out of here!” at the man who would say that he’d just spent his last five dollars on a meal for his four children and doesn’t know how to make it until his next paycheck?

Do they really care that the girl they’ve just asked that to just had an abortion that she felt forced into having and her life will never be the same?

Or will they just want the answer to be “Oh just great! And how are you doing?”

Words people say that make you think.

“Hi how are you doing?”  And I really want to know.  I want to see the world through your eyes.  I want to know how you think, what you feel, how you cope, what you can’t hold on to anymore. I want to understand.

“Hi, how are you doing?” And my response is; “Do you really want to know, or are you just being polite?”