There’s a Reason for Everything

Here are two problems with the adage, “There’s a reason for everything”:

1. 1. 1. 1. It’s lazy.
         2. It’s a time thief.

It’s lazy because it justifies avoiding the hard work of understanding. But even further, it serves as a response when it’s not. “There’s a reason for everything” does nothing in the way of clarifying what the reason is, and because of its ambiguity, it discourages a clear, thoughtful response.

It’s a time thief because we spend time thinking about reasons when we could be thinking about responses.

I offer an alternative: “There’s a response for everything”.

Perhaps it’s our response that makes this or that meaningful.
Maybe our response is the meaning being made in real time.
Or, perhaps our response helps us to understand the meaning that would have otherwise never been known.

How will you respond?