Consequentially Speaking
On the one hand, this week’s Query started out to be a kind of dud. Hey, it happens to the best of us, right? Basically, I was getting a bunch of looks that amounted to “Well, yeah…duh.”
But I’ve learned a lot as I’ve been asking questions of people over the last two months. I started out by doing too much talking myself, too much elaboration, just too much. I’ve not gotten over the too much talking yet, but I’m working on it. What I have gotten better at is the open-ended aspect of the Query. So when I get a one word answer or a blank look, I try to just stare back. Eventually one of us gives in. If it’s the other person, I get an interesting answer, and I get to go wherever their mind takes them. If I give up first, then I try to only offer a small prompt. And I still get an interesting answer.
So, even though everyone said, unequivocally “Yes, consequences are necessary!”, it turned out not to be a dud question after all because people provided many directions to follow from there. They touched on parenting, learning from our mistakes, guilt and conscience, physics, and our ability or right to pass judgement on others – to inflict consequences. (Consider Jim’s statements, made weeks and weeks ago, and how they relate to the recent “not guilty” verdict.) All in all, I have to say again that the fascination – and even joy – for me it is not as much in the question as it is in the discussion.
Click on the link below to see how everyone answered this question:
Are Consequences Necessary?
Items of Interest:
I Think I Broke My Logic Bone by girlonthecontrary
*In keeping with our theme, I logged out of WordPress and then decided to see what was on Fresh Pressed. Naturally, the first thing I click on is a very funny post about doing things over and over again, even though we’ve already suffered the consequences of those actions and should know better by now. I won’t tell you that I have repeatedly logged out of WordPress and then found something on Fresh Pressed that I wanted to comment on or link to. It’s true, but I won’t tell you about it.
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steadily skipping stones 
I haven’t answered a query because I’m not sure how it works…do I click to the other link and reply or just reply when on the page where you announce the query?
I would click on the link, because you can always get to those from the main Query page – they’ll always be pretty visible, whereas these posts get pushed down into oblivion.
I started doing the posts to announce the new Query because I thought people weren’t seeing them and some of the answers people give me, especially the conversations, are neat.