I just don't understand ...

By JoAnne Young

Not all that long ago, a year or two let’s say, I could find multiple ways to get to an answer, to suss out information on just about anything I didn’t understand.

Don't understand why people, especially Gen X and younger, hate voicemail? Just google it. (It’s cumbersome. You can read a text quickly. With voicemail you have to go through steps to listen to more words than necessary. If you have a lot to say, just text: Call me, please.) 

 

Don't get how checking a box that says I’m not a robot proves I’m not a robot? If you really care, it's right there in Google. (It has to do with CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart).

 

How about, why does time go faster as we get older? (Time speeds up with increasing age because we have fewer new experiences and our perception is less vivid, according to Psychology Today. We can stop time speeding up by bringing new experiences into our lives and by living mindfully.) 

 

These days, however, I have more and more questions about things I don’t understand. And there seems to be no good answers. There is no science. There is no rationale or reasoned response. There is only speculation. And it’s unsatisfactory.

 

* Why do our elected representatives introduce bills that would make it harder for some people – who have all the rights and privileges of any American – to vote? Why would there be even a hint that these officials want to make it harder for women to vote? And yet, the House just passed the SAVE Act, which doesn’t save anything. Since at least 1964, more women have voted in presidential elections than men. Are people worried they will vote to elect a woman as president? Clearly that hasn’t happened. Only 13 out of 50 states and two U.S. Territories have female governors. Less than one-third of members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are females. 

 

* Why do politicians say they support free speech, then punish Americans and others in this country for speaking out, for taking America at its word that the First Amendment protects our speech, including what we wear, read, say, paint, perform, believe, protest, or even silently resist? Why do they freak out when someone simply takes a knee? 

 

* Why do our senators in the state Legislature vote yes on bills that would limit a young person’s ability to use social media for the sake of protecting their mental health and for suicide prevention, and also vote yes on bills that would place restrictions and exclusions on LBGTQ+ kids, who are at higher risk of mental health issues and suicide? 

 

I don’t understand why this floor speech by Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt doesn’t make sense or sway state senators: “If we’re going to stand here and talk about suicide prevention, if we’re going to invoke the lives of children in crisis, then I expect you to bring that same energy, the same urgency, the same passion to support transgender and queer youth who are statistically much more at risk. We have lost lives in Nebraska since the passage of Sen. Kathleen Kauth’s bill (LB574) two years ago. Kids killed themselves. ... If you’re here talking about preventing suicide, then show me that same commitment to the kids who are actually dying because they’re told by lawmakers, by schools, by policies that they don’t matter, they can’t be themselves. That even their name is too controversial to be spoken out loud.” 

 

* Why do 43% to 54% of Americans in recent polls approve of Donald Trump’s performance in office when so many federal workers have been fired without cause, when Social Security and Medicare are being compromised, when people here legally are being deported without due process, when his administration is targeting and threatening Americans and American businesses by name – in executive orders – because they do not support him? I don’t understand. Maybe those who do can explain it to me. 

 

* Why do some parents want to control what other parents’ children have access to in their schools and public libraries? If the talking animals in Charlotte’s Web disturb them, they can simply keep it away from their own kids. If you want to shield your children from the world, do so. But this is a diverse country. Parents have differing opinions about raising their kids. Keep your bans to yourself. 

 

* I’ll end with something I can understand if I google it. Why do tiny ants want to live in my mailbox every summer? Aren’t there plenty of places to live outside? It seems I have to kill them to get them out. I don’t like that. 

 

I hope our world and the people in it get easier to understand soon. If you can offer any help, if you can add to the understanding in the world, I'd love you for it. Please do. 

 

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