The Power of a Question
One of the greatest powers we possess as human beings is the ability to direct our focus—and one of the simplest, yet most profound ways to do this is through the questions we ask.
The quality of our life often depends on the quality of our questions. A single question can reshape the mind, shift our emotions, and even save a life.
It once literally did.
A Life in the Shadows of Death
During World War II, Stanislavsky Lech, a Polish writer, was captured by the Nazis and taken, along with his family, to a death camp in Krakow. There, in that desolate place where hope seemed to die with every sunrise, his wife and children were murdered before his eyes.
Lech himself was forced to work from dawn until dark, weak from hunger and grief. Each day he witnessed unimaginable suffering—men and women beaten, starved, and executed without mercy. He felt the slow erosion of his will to live.
Then one day, amidst the despair, something within him shifted. He realized that if he stayed there even one more day, he would die—not only physically, but spiritually. He made a decision: he had to escape.
A Change in Focus
What gave birth to this determination?
A single question.
Up to that point, Lech’s mind had been trapped in the same questions that tormented everyone around him:
- “Why is this happening?”
- “How can I survive another day?”
- “How could God allow such evil?”
But in that moment of decision, he asked a different question:
“How can I escape from here?”
It seemed impossible. Others mocked him. “Don’t be a fool,” they said. “No one has ever escaped. Asking such things will only torture your soul.”
Yet Lech refused to accept their hopelessness. He kept asking the same question, again and again, with faith that somewhere there must be an answer.
The Unthinkable Answer
One day, while working near the crematorium, Lech smelled the sickening stench of death—a truck filled with corpses, men and women who had been gassed only hours before. He could have turned away in horror, but instead, he asked his question once more:
“How can I use this… to escape?”
And this time, the answer came.
As the sun set and the guards’ attention faded, Lech stripped off his clothes and slipped naked into the pile of bodies. He lay still among the dead, his body pressed under their weight, his lungs fighting the stench of decay.
When the truck carrying the corpses rumbled away, he stayed motionless, pretending to be one of them. Finally, when the vehicle stopped and the load of bodies was dumped into a mass grave, he waited until the sounds of footsteps disappeared. Then, crawling out from under the dead, he ran—naked, barefoot, and trembling—the twenty-five miles to freedom.
The Difference a Question Makes
What separated Stanislavsky Lech from the millions who perished in those death camps? There were certainly many factors—chance, timing, endurance—but one crucial difference lay in the question he chose to ask.
While others asked, “Why me?” or “How can I survive one more day?”, Lech asked, “How can I escape?”
He asked it with conviction. He asked it expecting an answer. And because of that, his mind focused on possibilities rather than despair.
Our minds are like search engines. Whatever question we ask, it immediately begins to look for answers. When we ask small, helpless questions, we receive small, helpless answers. When we ask powerful, solution-driven questions, our awareness expands, and we discover options we never saw before.
Reflection
Every day, we ask ourselves hundreds of silent questions. Most of them go unnoticed, yet they quietly shape the direction of our thoughts and emotions.
- Ask, “Why do bad things always happen to me?” and your mind will search for evidence to confirm it.
- Ask, “How can I grow through this?” or “What is the best action I can take right now?”—and your mind will begin to find strength and solutions.
In the darkest hours of life, when all seems lost, the right question can reopen the door of hope.
As spiritual wisdom teaches:
“As you think, so you become.”
And our thinking begins with the questions we dare to ask.
So when challenges arise, don’t ask “Why me?”
Ask instead, “What is this moment trying to teach me?”
and “How can I use this to serve, to rise, and to live more fully?”
That is how ordinary minds become extraordinary—and how one man’s question turned death into deliverance.
