Question everything, but be open to learning.

Everyone around you is right. People older than you know what they're doing. You're just a kid - you don't know anything, so just accept what everyone around you says. Stop asking questions!

Unfortunately, this is the mindset sometimes forced upon the young, that questioning is wrong. We're told to accept what we hear and see.

This mindset is completely wrong, but there's a balance to it to. Let me explain.

Question everything.

You should never be afraid to ask questions. If you're told to accept something and not to ask questions about it, that can plant a seed of doubt in your mind. This seed is poisonous, and can slowly grow until you stop believing in what your told.

Sometimes, this is intentional. There's something being hidden, and people don't want you to question it. But most of the time, there's absolutely nothing wrong with asking questions.

I know so many successful people who would never stop asking questions. They described their teachers as always being annoyed at them for how many questions they would ask.

Last year, I was sitting with a friend during Physical Education class. We had finished playing a game of basketball, and were discussing random topics when the topic of religion came up. This friend is one of the most religious people I know, so it shocked me when he said that he had been researching every other branch of his religion.

I never grew up asking questions, and it's not even because I was told not to question things. I was just never even aware of the concept.

This friend told me how he decided he didn't want to be a Muslim just because he was born a Muslim. He wanted to actually question everything and do his research. He spent days researching religions, and came to the conclusion that there literally is nothing in the world better than his religion.

This questioning led to his faith becoming even stronger. Instead of being born a Muslim and never realizing why he truly is a Muslim, and therefore potentially leading him to not take parts of Islam seriously, he simply asked questions.

There's a key thing that he did here though that led to his questioning being respectable. He was open to learning.

But be opening to learning.

I had another classmate who started questioning his religion. He decided to convert to another branch of Islam. Everyone around him assumed it was for clout, as he would continuously make a big deal about it and flex to everyone.

He started openly questioning parts of the religion the majority of students around him were. He questioned the authority of religious leaders and the authenticity of history.

This angered many people - how dare he ask questions? But the teachers around him were very open to hearing him out. They listened, and they responded with arguments that brought chills to my bones. Arguments so deep, arguments that made sense, and arguments that nobody could say anything against.

This is where we realized this student was chasing after clout. He would refuse to listen. Any argument that a teacher responded with, he would attempt to switch topics and bring up another weak point.

I'm quite thankful for these events happening - this kid managed to prove to the rest of the class that they were actually on the right path. His arguing solidified the beliefs of others.

The mistake this classmate made was not to ask questions, it was to not listen to the responses. And it's not even his fault - as humans, we naturally become defensive. If anything we say is proven wrong, we have an instinct to fight back.

That instinct is something that needs to be controlled. We should question everything, but be opening to learning.

And the hardest part - we should always be open to being proven wrong.