10 Thought-Provoking Questions To Ponder On

We all have those days where we’re sitting at one corner of a café by ourselves waiting for our orders, looking outside the buzzing street or a calm outdoor garden staring at a koi fishpond with fountains and man-made falls and plastic water lilies; or listening to music while on a public transport when suddenly—poof!—a question comes into mind and you spend your entire day thinking, researching about it in hope that you find a like-minded person to tell you “Wow, I thought of that too!” so you don’t think you’re crazy or weird.

Well, I’ve been there and done all that café visits by myself, staring blankly at birds courting while I was in the middle of a mock interview, or in the middle of shower when an almost impossible to solve question came to mind. And since I haven’t found a like-minded person to tell me I’m not crazy; I would like to be one for someone out there. So, here are my top 10 thought-provoking questions that’s been on my mind for a long time.

10. When you accidentally brush off an ant, ‘fracturing’ or killing it in the process, would that be considered as animal cruelty?
I’ve had this question in mind for years now. I am an animal lover through and through; not just for dogs or cats, but animals in general. Though I dislike bugs or insects with more than six legs—spiders to be exact. Why do encyclopedias and the internet have to zoom in so much at their eyes or their hairy legs? Anyway, back to the question; whether it’s an insect or a bug or a creepy crawler, they’re all animals still. Wouldn’t it be unfair if only house pets, big or majestic animals, and endangered animals get the special treatment enclosed under the animal cruelty law? Who would fight for the really small ones?

9. Where does a word come from?
As a writer, I am and will forever be in love with words. I personify words and poems and sentences. I started writing when I was in grade school and since then I’ve always asked where words came from. Like ‘Effervescence’, first time hearing it I never guessed it also meant bubbles in a liquid. Where did they get it? How did they form the words? Where does the word ‘word’ come from?

8. What if rain has flavors and clouds have colors depending on the flavor?
Okay, for the record, I know the scientific explanations of rain and cloud formation. But just what if, all those evaporated water mix in the clouds to fall down flavored? There’s a bit of ‘Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’ kind of moment—however to think about it, realistically-ish speaking, with pollution rampant, we won’t be getting any candy flavored rain.

7. What do aliens want from us?
They say that extraterrestrial life forms or aliens are a super advanced civilization with technology that are light years ahead of us—but why do they need to ‘abduct’ humans? Some say that they abduct humans in order for their civilization to evolve. Do they have basis for whom to abduct, or they just suck random people in their ships? I mean, shouldn’t they preserve their pure alien blood so they can all have the same intelligence or physical aspects? Wouldn’t it be difficult for a half-alien half-human baby to grow up looking different from others?

6. What if we’re just another tiny world on a speck of dust?
Did a Dr. Seuss movie title just popped in your mind? Yep. I got this thought after watching ‘Horton hears a Who!’—and what if the parallel world is just another speck of dust?

5. What if Déjà vu is a way for our other selves to connect?
That feeling of doing the exact same thing before so you pause whatever you’re doing and get weirded out for a few seconds just trying to recall when you’ve done it but failed. So, squeezing in the theory of the Parallel Universe and you get different out of this world ideas that connects our world—the real one—and the other world. But how do we know which is the real world? Hmm…

4. What if marriages can be renewed after a specific amount of time?
Talks that tackles any form of politics, religion and alike can be highly sensitive—and so does marriage. But what if, like driver’s license, or any kind of license, the marriage license can also be renewed after five years or depending on the years you want the license to last? At one part, marriage is sacred and people entering marriage should know the eternal consequence of it. But they also say change is constant, people strive to better themselves every single day, so what if the thing you want most before, is not the same thing you want now? They do say to go with what makes us happy.

3. The truest form of freedom can only be achieved in death. Agree or disagree?
I agree to this. I’ve also formed an impromptu speech around this thought on English class and have debated with my classmates who are against it. Carl Jung said that man’s goal is to achieve ‘selfhood’ but when ‘self’ is achieved everything will cease and for me it meant death—pessimistic view, I know. But the more I read about it, the more I am convinced. And with society being governed my rules and regulations, do’s and don’ts, can you really call yourself free?

2. The law doesn’t protect the people; the people protect the law. True or false?
First of all, statement credits to ‘Psycho-pass’, an anime series written by Gen Urobuchi. The main character said this statement with an explanation, though in my own words, that was, “People made the law in hope of putting things in order. When a certain law is breached, the lawmakers do amends and/or give out punishments to whoever broke the rules and in the process giving justice to the offended.” Though it’s not a question, it still makes me think and want to debate when I remember it.

1. Aren’t you the one limiting yourself?
Again, statement credits to ‘Kuroko no Basuke’ by Tadatoshi Fujimaki. Ever since I watched an episode on its first season where Seirin’s basketball team captain asked this to one of the main characters, it has been stuck in my head for years and the one question I ask myself when I want to do something new, hesitant about something or just plain unsure of myself.

So…Did your eyebrows furrow? Did you say ‘huh?’ with a confused look? Did you stare blankly into nothingness in deep thought? Or perhaps you thought I was crazy?

Well, the thing is, there’s always going to be a little crazy in us. We all have a weird habit or a quirky reaction to things, but that’s what makes us different from others—that’s what makes us memorable. So embrace the inner crazy or weird or freak, whatever you would like to call it and remember, the lady who wrote this is a level 7.5 of 10 weird, so you’re not alone.