Intellectually Curious or Just Plain Nosy?

Intellectual curiosity is probably just a nice term for nosy, but since I’ve been tagged with that characteristic for most of my life, I’m going with the marketing spin on this one.  Yes, I ask questions, probably too many, but I learn a lot by asking about things I don’t know.

I’ve always loved knowing random “stuff” and that’s only increased over the years.  I found a rationale for my nosiness when I was in grad school (the gifted and talented stint) and heard my grad school advisor  offer advice in the opening assembly of SLUFY (Summer Laureate University for Youth).  Emily said, “Every day when you come to SLUFY, you should make a new friend, learn something new, and ask a good question.”

Her audience back then was students in grades 1-6, but it’s since become one of my personal happiness commandments, and I’ve shared it with a number of young people I care a lot about and their ages range from five months to 21+.  Will they remember it, embrace it?  Don’t know but I do know that my own life has been enriched through observation, conversation, and questions. Thanks to more amazing folks than I can count (some friends, some strangers), I’m the poster child for a liberal arts education (yeah, Hendrix College, even if I did make it through without ever taking a science class).

The power of intellectual curiosity has taken on even more importance because of my opportunity to work with a visionary leader who is truly a gifted kid grown up and a lot of wicked smart people (my Boston buds have the most appropriate adjectives) since the early ‘90s.  They’ve indulged me by “exchanging pleasantries” over the years, all the while teaching me about things that are way beyond any perceived area of expertise or comfort zone that I might claim.

So, what kinds of things have I learned as a result of colleagues and the “kindness of strangers”?  The wonders of technology and what it can do—just ask a programmer what s/he does and then stand back.  I know just enough about the “innards” of technology to be dangerous, but I’m energized by my ability to ask enough conceptual questions for techies to take me seriously.  I’ve toured the underbellies of buildings to look at boilers and HVAC systems and scored directions for installing my own dimmer switch in my dining room chandelier (which I followed successfully!).  I’ve watched the ballets of the tow-truck operator, the mason laying brick, and the tree-trimmer.  I’ve listened and listened and listened (I don’t DO numbers!) to financial explanations and now have a glimmer of understanding of how to plan to take care of myself when I’m in my late 80s.  I’ve taken a page from the strategists as they smoothly navigate tenuous situations and marveled at their prowess. I read stories by gifted writers, no matter the topic, and try to analyze what makes their articles the special ones that make me smile. I still look at the Southern ladies in my life and think, “I want to be them when I grow up.”

Yes, it’s random, but that’s what makes it wonderful.  Nosy?  Maybe, but you can’t argue with “make a new friend, learn something new, and ask a good question”…what have you learned today?