My second-grader Scout and I talk a lot about words and their definitions.

Today in the car we were listening to NPR and she asked me what "Wall Street" is.

I wish grownups would ask when they don't know what a word means.

If they did, someone would tell them that it makes perfect sense to protest a situation, even if you don't propose a solution—even if you don't know what the solution is.

They would learn that there is a difference between a protest and a proposal. At a protest, people are protesting things they don't like, not proposing solutions. Whereas, at a proposal, they are proposing solutions, not protesting problems.

Now sometimes, people protest problems and then propose solutions, all in the same day! But not usually. Usually, the problems are really big at first, or really hard to see, and you've got to spend all the time just trying to get people to agree that they are problems.

Okay: Maybe you still don't understand the difference between protests and proposals.

That's okay. I don't think Scout understood my definition of "Wall Street," either. I'm not the best at explaining stuff.

Also, it's possible you're just not old enough yet.