Out of the mouths of babes....

Children constantly ask the question Why? to the distraction of adults who often haven't thought about why the sky is blue or why you shouldn't run out into a street without looking. For adults it's all second nature. Children are trying to figure out how things work.

Why is a great question. Use it often in interviews as a rejoinder to many "explanations" or excuses you'll hear.

For example: "We didn't have money in the budget for that program."Why didn't you?

"I had to do it?

Why did you feel that way?

"I like Barack Obama the best of the candidates, though I haven't read a lot of their stands on the issues?
Why do you like Obama the best then? Why haven't you read up on the issues -- what are you considering instead?

Here's a quote I like that was used in a recent posting on the Word, http://tedsword.blogspot.com/, which puts out interesting insights on some common values in journalism and reporting.

"The word 'why' is, in my view, the most powerful word in the English language. It is the driving force of my profession, and it's also the driving force and at the heart of your professors, creative sciences, honest politicians and of good parents. Don't stop asking the word 'why' just because you’re leaving DePauw. All institutions, all endeavors, all relationships are improved by a good scrubbing using the word 'why.' In democracy it is the question we must all constantly be asking our government and our leaders. It is not unpatriotic to question the government; it is unpatriotic not to."
—John McWethy (1947-2008), a print and television journalist, from his 2003 DePauw University commencement speech