Pondering the Imponderables

What is the opposite of sandwich?

About a year ago I was approached by an acquaintance and asked a simple question. Actually that's not true. The structure of the question was simple, however the question itself was anything but. I was told it was a question that was meant to make them think and basically stump them. So after thinking about the question for a bit I gave my response. I then inquired as to whether or not my answer was correct.

I was informed that the questioner, in fact, did not know the answer to the question. As I said, the purpose of the question was to stump people and make them think. Although the lack of certainty in the question and its missing answer initially frustrated me, I soon grew to embrace it. I had an answer to the question and I was pretty confident in its correctness. At least, I thought it was clever and about as correct as anyone was going to get. The fact that my inquiring cohort could not tell me whether or not I was actually correct did not matter anymore.

What is self-esteem squared?

Now, just two days ago, I encountered a similar question. This question was not posed to stump its audience, but was posed to make a point. Regardless, it got me thinking. The bottom line was simple. If one is going to raise questions, analyze data (of whatever kind) and draw conclusions, one must be clear in what is actually being studied. If we measure something we must base our conclusions on what we've measured. This was a topic-specific idea, but I think the underlying thesis is applicable to our everyday experiences as well.

At times it is cumbersome, if not impossible, to analyze and draw conclusions from a certain set of observations. In order to counter this, we've developed accepted ways of twisting and transforming our observations to allow for easier analysis. We banish the abstrusity, allowing ourselves to reach some measure of closure. But at this point, after we've twisted and transformed our experiences, how much substance can we actually draw from them? I don't have the answer. I don't think there is an exact answer. I guess that's what makes it an imponderable.