Curiosity, more

Yesterday, I thought I had screwed up, and that my mistake was going to cost me 4 hours of work.  I paused to consider.  In the process I wound up wandering around a huge construction site, that was to me in any event quite interesting.  If it’s not obvious, I like exploring.  I don’t need to do anything dramatic, just change scenery enough to SEE something new, think something new, create for myself a new experience.

Anyway, wandering around it occurred to me that even in failure you can find things that are interesting. Curiosity is a type of excitement that goes on and on and on.  It’s not quite a purpose in life–although I think it could serve as one, and a better one than many I see–but it certainly adds energy to life.

And it hit me that even in zero sum games, that you lose, there are things you can find that are interesting.  And it occurred to me that that fact can take all the sting of loss out of the thing.  You get the excitement of victory, ideally, and the consolation of learning something in the worst case.  Put another way, no excitable, curious person, can ever lose, finally.

That’s a good thought, I think.

My next bumper sticker–to cover up the last Republican who didn’t win–will say “Be Relentlessly Curious”.  There is so much value in it. Imagine if all Americans were genuinely curious, genuinely interested in asking questions and hearing answers.  It would change the landscape of our nation quickly.

Oh, and I solved my problem.  I just needed a bit of space to think it through.   To the point here, actually, solving it meant thinking a new thought, and discovering something I did not know.