I’ve had to debate a lot in my life. From the classroom to the dinner table, I am curious. When I hear things that make me think I want to talk about it more. I will make my own opinions, but debating them, that’s the fun part. Don’t tell me I’m wrong and leave it at that, tell me why, convince me. I am curious. That’s good. Ask questions. You may hear about the phase kids have where they ask non-stop questions, but that doesn’t have to be a phase. Yeah, maybe it can be exhausting to answer a ton of questions, but you should feed your own curiosity, your own growing mind.
I have a challenge for you. When you see something -a billboard, an advertisement, a protest, news, whatever else that may make you feel something strongly, or make you think- continue thinking. Why does this make you feel the way it does? What about it? Think about the reasons. Think about the opposite view, and find ways to oppose your own idea and opinion. Ask yourself questions, and find the answers.
Do you ever know exactly what you want to convey, exactly what you mean, but you don’t have the words to say what you want? Well you don’t need to read a dictionary to find the words you need. You could read about it, talk about it with others. You can learn a lot from other people, even if you disagree with them. New vocabulary, thoughts, opposing views. If you care about something enough you can talk about it all day. So why don’t you try caring a little bit more about a couple more things? Don’t be scared to be curious. Don’t be scared to ask questions.
In this time, strikingly similar to dystopian fiction, you can just go on chatGPT and ask it to tell you what you want to hear. Where is the fun in that? What did you accomplish? What did you learn? What did you lose? Start thinking now. Is AI good or bad? Ask yourself that, think about that and ask yourself, “why?” Ask others that same question. Ask questions. How much can we grow when we have a machine thinking for us?
You don’t have to think about only the most impactful or political things, but you have to think. Think about that movie you watched, think about that cute animal you saw the other day. Did you know they found a new species of cat? There is a species of armadillo called pink fairy armadillo? Narwals “horns” are actually overgrown teeth and one of two teeth they will ever have in their life? There are so many fun, weird facts out there that you could learn, that you could think about. The only way to find them is to be curious.
A phrase you may have heard before “curiosity killed the cat,” but everyone forgets the best part, “satisfaction brought it back.” So be curious, ask questions.
