The Boxers Rebellion
Way back when Bill Clinton was first running for President it was an historic moment when he appeared on MTV, showing that he was not only willing to court the youth vote but that he was willing to meet them, at least somewhat, on their own turf. The thing about the appearance that was most widely reported was that moment, after they had opened up to questions from the audience, when a young woman asked the deceptively simple and seemingly off-topic question, “Boxers or briefs?”
The thing that many people took away from that question was that it confirmed their fears about the vacuousness of youth and that maybe it was better if they weren’t part of the political process. But they were wrong. The thing about that question wasn’t what the answer was, as neither option mattered a whit to the job for which he was running, rather, it mattered that he answered it at all and it mattered how he answered it. It was a rare chance during his campaign to see the candidate address a question that was completely unexpected.
In my daily talks with God, I’ve often wondered if I could find a question that would have that same affect. In our talks he’s told me that he’s only as omniscient as he chooses to be, so that certainly leaves it open as a possibility, but even if I did catch him unawares, it seems reasonable to expect that his mind works so much faster than my own all too human brain, that he’d have time to carefully consider his answer before there was even a hint of a chance for any surprise to make it onto his face.
So on a whim today, I just went with the prototype, I asked him “Boxers or briefs?”
He just told me he never wore both at the same time.
Then a few seconds of reconsideration later he changed his answer to almost never at the same time.
Someday I might even ask him about that “almost.”
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