Why? That seems to be the theme lately. Time and again someone walks through the door and either shouts, cries, or quietly whispers why? And I find myself joining them. And suddenly the whys are weighing me down. All of you have been there before. Why did that person die so young? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why did I lose my job? Why did we lose our home? Why would someone hurt a child? Why do religions war against one another? Why? Why? Why? These questions are not questions that we want logical answers for. We don’t want to hear that the young person was not skilled at driving a car and that is why they died. We understand, and are not looking for, we couldn’t pay the mortgage and so the bank took the house. There are much deeper answers that we want. We want answers because we seek peace. And when one bad thing can happen and we don’t understand it, we begin to feel the next bad thing might be around the corner and we can’t stop it. There is no peace in that. If we had the answers, we might have some control over bad things?  

I began to meditate on this and how we can understand it better. During this meditation an acronym for the word ‘why’, when used in a question that has no answer, appeared. It is “We Haul Yaks”. About now most of you are probably confused. I was too! Then I became curious as to why something like this would come out?  My first thought was it doesn’t make any sense!? We haul yaks? What could that possibly mean? My thoughts turned to kids and how the world is such a confusing place that really makes no sense. I thought about the world around me, as a child does, and discovered that ‘why’ is not bad. When we ask why as a child we learn about the world around us and how to accept life and all its wonders. But as children we learn that not every why has an answer and as children we move on to the next. This is because children don’t need to seek peace in answers. 

As adults we sometimes feel control will provide peace and so we want answers. So back to “we haul yaks”. Seriously? That gets us no closer to answers and makes not one lick of sense! Then I understood. Some of the why questions will never make sense because there are no answers for them. There will never be answers to some of the worst questions we ever ask.  

And then it dawned on me that the acronym shown to me was perfect. The yak is the animal that has the longest history recorded of carrying the heaviest of loads in extreme weather and terrain. And what perfect metaphor to have when it comes to us trying to ask difficult questions that may have no answers? Asking why questions that have no answers is like the metaphor of trying to carry a yak on our back. It is difficult because it weighs us down and it doesn’t make any sense! The only place one should ever see a yak on our back is in a Dr. Seuss book!  

So what do we do with those why questions that just won’t leave our heads and hearts? Leave the heavy lifting to the yaks and put that weight down! When one of those why questions come up, simply set it down for a yak to pick up. The yak can climb to great heights and is thought to carry messages and prayers to God or (insert your higher power). It’s their job. So call to this Spirit Animal’s energy the next time one of those questions plague you and allow them to carry it away. Someday we will know, or access, the answers to every question but by then we won’t need the answers to feel peace. 

j.m.s.