  After the development of a self-consistent quantum formalism nearly a century
ago there began a quest for how to interpret the theoretical constructs of the
formalism. In fact, the pursuit of new interpretations of quantum mechanics
persists to this day. Most of these endeavors assume the validity of standard
quantum formalism and proceed to ponder the ontic nature of wave functions,
operators, and the Sch\"{o}dinger equation. The present essay takes a different
approach, more epistemological than ontological. I endeavor to give a heuristic
account of how empirical principles lead us to a quantum mechanical description
of the world. An outcome of this approach is the suggestion that the notion of
discrete quanta leads to the wave nature and statistical behavior of matter
rather than the other way around. Finally, the hope is to offer some solace to
those older of us who still worry about such things and also to provide the
neophyte student of quantum mechanics with physical insight into the
mathematically abstract and often baffling aspects of the theory.
