Why Asking Questions Is a Strength, Not a Weakness
If You Don’t Know Something, Don’t Be Afraid to Ask There’s a sentence I’ve said to myself more times than I care to admit: I should probably already know this . It’s usually followed by silence. A pause. A decision not to ask the question that’s sitting right there, perfectly formed, but somehow stuck behind pride, habit, or a quiet fear of looking foolish. After nearly seventy years, I can say this with some confidence: that instinct—to stay quiet, to nod along, to bluff your way through—is one of the least useful habits we ever pick up. And yet, it’s remarkably hard to unlearn. We’re told from an early age that curiosity is a virtue. Ask questions. Explore. Learn. Then, somewhere along the line—often sooner than we realise—that message gets muddied. Questions become interruptions. Admitting you don’t know something becomes a weakness. By adulthood, many of us have perfected the art of appearing informed, even when we’re not entirely sure what’s going on. And here’s the ir...