All roads lead to… somewhere. Just where is that somewhere? I’ve spent much of my life asking impossible questions. Around the age of 4 or 5, I remember being told something about what made a question good or bad. The premise is that if you think of a question, you should try to answer it yourself first. If you cannot answer it yourself, it is recommended you ask your parents. If they do not know the answer, try to ask an educator. If you make it all the way to an educator that cannot answer the question, then congratulations, you’ve got yourself a damn good question. “So then what?” I inquisitively asked.

Asking questions is a part of human nature. All throughout history there are examples of people trying to solve problems by asking questions. But what happens when you fail to ask more questions after an answer? I present to you 2020. For a long time, things in America have given the appearance of progress. Even in 2020, the average American would tell you we are “on the right track”. But this is far from the reality. Over the last 20 years, progress has actually become stagnant. Ironically, it is also around the time of 9/11 and when businesses were given human rights.

There are hundreds of examples, but let’s look at the race relations in this country and how they’ve pretty much been the same for my entire 26 years. Sure, legislation passed, but much of it was passed by people not even trying to solve the actual problems, but rather protect their own legacies. You know, similar to how EVERY big brand has something to say in response to the recent protests? It’s great they joined the “Black lives matter” movement with a canned response, but “Then what?” 

You and I were unfairly targeted by police years ago, and spoke out on it then to people who asked themselves “if we ignore them, then what?” You see, unless you get good at asking the question, “then what?” you cannot win in America. “Then what?” is the cornerstone question that enables peak performance in capitalism, but yet only the elite seem to get to this point of questioning and they stop questioning when it stops benefiting them.

I am baffled we still don’t question capitalism or many other things in this country. Think about it as picking a team or character in a video game. Each one usually has it’s pros and cons. You sometimes have your favorite, but it’s really not competitive, just fun. We’ve repeatedly voted for capitalism and to keep life a sport in this country without even asking, “Then what?”. 

Diamonds were absolutely worthless until a marketing strategy made it seem as though they were rare. Most of the world actually wanted a different form of capitalism when America was setting it’s version up. Both of those statements are true and can easily be verified, but yet, despite this ease, plenty of people still buy diamonds and plenty of people still support American capitalism. Today’s problems are on a ticking timer that will run out eventually. My question to you is “Then what?”