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We want answers. We expect answers. We have been trained taught convinced conditioned to believe answers will satisfy us. “You want answers?” “I want the truth!” “You can’t handle the truth!”
Why is this woman wading up to her shins in the water? Who is that girl? What are they doing? We want to know. We have a right to know. “The answers are there, Mulder. You just have to know where to look.”
But here’s a true thing: sometimes answers aren’t the answer. Sometimes the question is the answer. Sometimes what we really want is the question. “It’s the question that drives us, Neo. It’s the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.” “What have I got in my pocket?” Bilbo said aloud.
We want answers. But we need questions. Who is this woman? Who is that girl? What are they looking for? If we knew, conclusively, the answers to those questions, would we be happier? Would our appreciation of the photograph be enhanced? Maybe. Maybe not. We can’t help asking, we can’t help wanting to know. But… “I’m not questioning your powers of observation, I’m merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.”
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
