Curiosity

Hmm… Curiosity! A word that commands without commanding, a word that sparks the kind of fire from which inventions are born. A fire that drives us to learn, grow, and create.

We’ve all heard it:

“Are you not curious to know why...?”

That simple question has been whispered through time opening locked doors of understanding for generations.

Curiosity comes from the Latin cūriōsitās, related to cura meaning care or concern. It later passed through Old French as curiosité, and into modern English.

But beyond words, curiosity is a force.

• It’s what makes a child pull apart a toy to see how it works.

• It’s what drives a student to ask one more question.

• It’s what makes you read this far looking for something beyond the ordinary.

If you’ve read my earlier piece on How Computers Work, you’ll recall the story of a friend who panicked because his computer was making strange noises. At first, he feared the worst but curiosity led us to open it up and discover a dustball blocking the fan. That simple act of looking inside instead of giving up saved him stress, money, and worry.

Often, without a curious mindset, we don’t even consider, we just panic, shut down, or give up.

History is full of curious minds who changed the world simply because they refused to stop asking “why.”

(Pictured: Katherine Johnson, the NASA mathematician whose curiosity helped make spaceflight possible.)

Katherine Johnson for example - a woman who had to overcome gender hurdles, followed her curiosity in math and helped NASA send astronauts to the moon and return them safely home.

Curiosity is not limited to scientists or inventors. It’s a life skill. When combined with opportunity and access to knowledge, it can empower people to improve their circumstances.

I will wrap this up with this quote from THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON:

“Thou speakest with true inspiration, Bansir. Thou bringeth to my mind a new understanding. Thou makest me to realize why we have never found any measure of wealth. We never sought it.” - Still Curiosity.

You don’t need to be a genius to build something great.

You just need the courage to ask “why” and the drive to follow where it leads.