June 21, 2015
When faced with a problem or presented a question, I like seek out an explanation or look for an answer. As teachers I think we all strive to instill in our students the drive to explore and seek out explanations.
We pose questions in our classrooms and guide students on their road to discovery as they uncover the workings of the world around them. We, as life long learners, also seek to find reasons for things we do not fully understand.
Sometimes the answers to questions are quite obvious. For example: why is the time display on my microwave blinking? The obvious answer is because there was a power outage. The solution is to just reset the clock.
Sometimes we need to dig a bit deeper to find an answer and a solution. Why does the one tire on my car look a little flat? I put some air in and the next day it looks flat again. Is there a leak in the valve? Have I somehow punctured the tire? A trip to the garage reveals a nail in the tire. The solution – have the nail removed and the hole patched.
Then there are those questions that seem to have no logical solution or plausible answer. For example: tho other day the phone rang. I answered with “Hello”. I knew who was the caller was because of caller ID. Instead of replying with “Hello” his response was, “Oh, I didn’t think you would be home.” Now I am perplexed. If you didn’t think I would be home, why call at this time? Did you really want to talk to me voicemail? If you did, I apologize for ruining things by answering. This has happened on more than one occasion. Has anyone else had this happen to them or is it just me? If you have an explanation for this please let me know. This is one mystery I have never been able to figure out.
arjeha 
I generally don’t answer the phone. Most friends who call expect my voicemail and, if they really want to talk, will ramble for a bit to see if I’m there or not. If I actually pick up, they are sometimes surprised. maybe you surprised your caller. Do you generally let the phone go to voicemail?
How rude that they wanted to talk to a machine rather than the interesting person who pays the phone bill. I don’t have caller ID so it’s always a mystery to me who is calling.
Oh boy. Wrong answer to hello! I actually think that technology has made us phone call phobic – so many people prefer to leave a message, or text/email rather than make that voice contact. Sad.
I used to spend hours on the phone when I was younger, chatting with all my friends, and now I would consider myself phone-phobic to a degree. Maybe I’ve gotten used to the control of being able to type, revise, and rephrase?
How sad that technology has turned people into not wanting actual contact. You could have responded, “please leave your name and number, I’ll call back or not”. Some questions just don’t have answers.
I don’t have a caller id, but I have a relative who calls but leaves no message and then wants to know why I did not call back? How would I know who the caller was?? Technologies do provide us many mysteries. Maybe a good thing…..to keep our minds working to find the solutions!