Check It Out: Be brave and ask questions, even in a smoke-filled room

By Joan Janzen

A man asked a lawyer, "How much do you charge?" The lawyer replied saying he charged $1,000 to answer three questions. The man fired back, asking, "Don't you think that's too expensive?" The lawyer replied, "Yes. Now what's your third question?"

Personally, I love asking questions. It's what I do every day. In a recent newsletter, Dr. Suneel Dhand encouraged his readers, saying, "Your best protection is the willingness to keep learning, keep asking questions, and never underestimate how much influence your everyday choices and healthy skepticism can have on the years ahead."

It's good advice. However, the simple act of questioning something requires bravery, as many people respond with anger, ridicule and offence instead of offering a thoughtful response. But it's always worth listening to a well-thought-out response.

Dr. Dhand recalled the time period when nurses offered hospital patients their choice of cigarettes, which they were allowed to smoke while resting on their beds. The sight of doctors smoking while they chatted with their patients would be difficult for young people today to imagine.

"Today we look at that period and wonder how supposedly intelligent, highly trained medical professionals could have been so oblivious to something that now seems obvious," the doctor said.

At that time, anyone who questioned the accepted practice of smoking inside a hospital would have been laughed at, shunned by their peers or labelled an extremist. Does any of this sound familiar?

Dr. Dhand said, "The lesson learned is that you should always think, and when something doesn't feel right, be the trailblazer that calls it out. It could be in a professional situation or in a small group with family and friends." Although it sounds simple, it requires a great deal of bravery.

I remember an example of this while growing up with my siblings and parents. My parents didn't smoke, but whenever they invited friends over for a birthday party and card playing, almost everyone in the room smoked.

It took days to clear out the stench. Although my parents complained, they never ever considered asking their guests, "Would you please smoke outside?" Smoking in people's homes was the accepted behaviour of the day, and anyone who questioned it was likely to receive harsh criticism.

A few decades later, I recall visiting a restaurant at the time when specific areas for smoking were being introduced. In that particular restaurant, a room had been partitioned off, surrounded by plexiglass walls. Inside those walls, all that could be seen was a huge cloud of smoke, as all the smokers were trapped inside the "safe" smoking area.

At some point in time, someone must have been brave enough to stand up in the middle of a smoke-filled room and ask, "Does this make any kind of sense?" Because eventually smokers were instructed to smoke outdoors.

Today we can recall those examples with amazement and ask, "What were they thinking?" However, two or three decades from now, people will be looking back at 2026 and asking in disbelief, "What were they thinking?"

Dr. Dhand made another observation in this regard. In a recent article, it was reported there's a huge increase in prescriptions of antidepressants, especially to young people. Nevertheless, young people continue to report higher levels of mental distress. Obviously, record-high antidepressant prescriptions have not made people less depressed.

As a doctor, he witnessed opioids being enthusiastically prescribed for chronic pain, followed by devastating dependence, addiction and overdose.

"The challenge for all of us is to recognize some of today's mistakes before history has to point them out," the doctor advised.

But how will anyone ever recognize today's mistakes if the act of questioning anything is considered hateful, offensive, even illegal?

Josh Dehaas from the Canadian Constitution Foundation talked about censorship in an online interview. He said, "We've seen a bunch of bills, and social media control is one of them. They want to control what people see and what they say." The result is the censoring of speech on all sorts of topics.

But never underestimate how much influence your everyday choices and willingness to keep learning and ask questions can have on the years ahead. It's the motivation factor to stay brave and ask questions.

Remember when doctors promoted cigarettes? It's proof that sometimes bad ideas persist because everybody has become accustomed to them and no one is brave enough to face the inevitable onslaught of ridicule and ask, "Does this make sense?"

History has shown that the cost of not asking questions is not a monetary loss, but a human loss. It's what motivates me to write this column every week, because I love God and I love people.

Joan Janzen