Questions and answers

There I was in a meeting with several local NGOs and staff from other development organizations hearing about the “quiet time” that had been created in this country so as to permit the government to work without being continuously interrupted by the thousands of donors and officials that visited it. As the spokesman of the group, I innocently asked, “During what months of the year does the quiet time fall?”—only to realize in that same second that I should never have asked just that question! I remembered a movie where the senior defense lawyer counseled his younger partner never to ask a question to which you don’t know the answer. 

And talking about questions and answers, recently, when invited to a semiprivate screening of The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (Errol Morris’ 2003 Oscar-winning documentary about Secretary of Defense McNamara’s role in the Vietnam War), Mr. McNamara himself answered some questions afterwards. When he was confronted with an especially difficult one, I heard him reply: “I learned never to answer the question that is asked of you but only to answer the question you wish had been asked of you.” His answer opened up to me a huge window of understanding of all politicians, here, there, and everywhere.