I’ve always been aware that the saying “the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know” is intensely accurate, but as I’ve gotten older and learned, ostensibly, more, I’ve become all the more aware of all I don’t know.

I realize that sounds like a contradiction on the surface, but if you stop and think about it, you’ll realize it’s truth. With every bit of information I add to my store in this already overflowing brain (which is why things often escape), I end up with at least five more questions to which I don’t have the answer.

That doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t try to reason things out, but that won’t always be right.

I think that’s part of the reason this job is perfect for me. I’m allowed to ask question after question, and then more questions. I know people who get tired of my pestering, and I wish I could quit, but it’s just not the way this mind works. Once I understand one thing you’re teaching me, I want to know about another that connects to it, or why then another thing doesn’t connect.

I am especially driven to question and understand people. Why they behave the way they do, why they make the choices they make, why they are committed to the people and things they are. What makes people tick? What makes them special, unique? What makes them angry enough to fight or frightened enough to hide? I am fascinated by the human mind and soul.

Since I cover our criminal and legal beat, I also spend a lot of time trying to understand how the laws and the courts work. It’s not easy. We have one of the best legal systems in the world — when it works. But the trouble is, the laws may be static, but the humans who must interpret and enforce them are not. Meaning laws are still subject to an individual’s interpretation. What they know.

But I do believe that those who work in the field of law, in whatever form, have the same kind of curiosity that I do. How do things work, particularly between people? How do relationships affect lives, and people’s choices, actions, motivations? And how can their behavior be addressed using the laws intended to keep all of us safe and trucking along in our everyday lives?

I know there are some who distrust the legal system, who think that it’s not fair or balanced, and I understand why. But I also understand there are so many ins and outs, so many regulations, restrictions, laws actually governing laws, that it can be an intricate dance for those practicing to step to. I have to believe they try to get it right, and that they, like me, are always learning.

Of course, that means that they are also learning what they don’t know. But they are learning. And so am I. And so are you. And as we learn, and grow, and see more and more what we don’t know, I hope we can work to keep each other on track. I hope we can remind each other that while you may have more knowledge in one field and I in another, it doesn’t make either of us any smarter or better. It just helps us keep each other on the best path forward together. I hope we can remain patient with one another. I also hope we continue to encourage the curiosity that keeps us learning, keeps us asking questions.

Because I still have a million yet to ask.