What if You Asked a Different Question

 

Why?

Too often we make choices, choose answers, and follow processes because it’s what someone before us did. We’re doing what’s always been done. This often means that we aren’t making progress, and when it comes to problems, if we always ask the same question, we may always end up with the wrong answer.

I’m currently dealing with a tough situation with some teenagers. I’ll write more later, but I tend to write about events after they’re over, and we’re still living this.

The police keep asking, what do they have against you? My answer, I don’t think anything. But day after day I’m asked the same question and I provide the same answer. ( this is not to say that I don’t think that the police are trying, they are doing what they are trained to do, and I appreciate the help that they are providing)

What if instead of calling kids bad or troubled, we said that they were in crisis. How would this change our response? What would we do differently? How would this change the approach, the resources?

These kids are in crisis.

They are either experiencing trauma in their life and taking it out on me, and/or if they don’t get help now, they will likely end up committing much larger crimes. THIS IS A CRISIS. They are begging to be seen.

If we don’t know the answer to the first question, we should not continue to ask the same question over and over, as it will almost always result in the same answer. Ask a new question, then another new one, and another and another until you find an answer.

Do not settle for what has always been done. Blaze a new path. Do it your way. Ask a different question. Find a better answer.