Project Vision 21

Francisco Miraval

I recently spoke about some historical issues to a group of people near Denver. After my presentation, one of the participants came to me and, without introducing herself, told me, “I didn’t know there were answers to my questions.”

Then, after a brief pause to share her name, she said that for a long time she has been looking for information about some ancient history events of her interest. But she thought that either the information did not exist or, if the information did exist, it was beyond her reach.

The sincerity of this participant was so clear that I have no doubts she really meant to say she has been unsuccessfully looking for answers to her questions. Unfortunately, our dialogue was interrupted and I never had the chance of asking her what kind of questions she had and what kind of obstacles she face looking for answers.

In our time it is so easy and simple to access to almost any time of information (true or false) about almost any topic, regardless of the obscurity or triviality of the topic, that it is incredible to realize that some people, for whatever reason, are still excluded or they exclude themselves from accessing that information, even if they need it or want it.

I wanted to keep talking with this lady, not to give her any answers (I don’t have them), but to learn more about what questions she had and to begin a double analysis of what kind of answers she was looking for (and if those answers really exist) and of why she has been so far unable to obtain those answers.

Perhaps it has to do to with her education level, but I don’t think that was the case. O perhaps she has many daily responsibilities, such as her family and her job. That could be the case, because frequently urgent things stop us from getting to the important things.

Perhaps she assumed she needed a special talent, or a certain language, or certain kind of resources or connections, or a certain social status to have access to the questions she had, or at least to find somebody who will help her to understand the questions.

That’s probable. I frequently find people who, in spite of having good opportunities within their reach, they unnecessarily exclude themselves from those opportunities using as an excuse some of the reasons listed above.

But perhaps there is a very simple reason. Perhaps, until know, nobody took her questions seriously to the point that the day came when she stopped taking her own questions seriously and she stopped looking for answers.

If I ever meet her again, I guess she could be disappointed in knowing that asking questions is in many cases even more important than finding answers. However, I trust she will be happy knowing that there are many other pilgrims ceaselessly walking the road of knowledge. I hope the consolation of having companions will dissipate the disappointment of not finding answers.