Curiosity never killed my cat!
The old wife's tale suggests that it was curiosity that killed the cat. But then again, a cat is suppose to have nine lives, so why not sacrifice one for the sake of learning through curiosity!
By Lars G. Harrison
By nature most cats are curious, and for this sake the old adage that a cat has nine lives has sprung. A cat's curiosity for experiencing and learning new things takes it to heights where it seems it defies death itself. In great amazement we wonder how it always survive. Instead of being dead, it continues to find ways to escape death once more. From this we believe that a cat must have nine lives, or perhaps only eight left. But what is so odd, is that the thought of dying was never once a thought to the cat. Really, a cat only has one life, like the rest of God's creation.
I have rescued cats out of chimneys, trees, ducts, towel closets, cupboards, and bookcases, and other unusal places I never thought cats would be interested in. Without knowing, I recently left my female Siamese in my closet for an entire day. Fortunately, I was not scheduled for a week-long business trip. I have learned to always notice where my cats are before leaving, and my wife keeps reminding me. Like children everything approachable is worth experiencing.
I think back on my childhood and all the fun things we experienced. I was not concern with having enough insurance to cover my inquisitive nature, or whether doing something would make me look foolish. As an adult I no longer explore the dangerous and exciting. I don't climb roof-tops, unless to repair it. Instead I have the routines that we all take for granted. Where's my excitement?
Children are inquisitive. If they don't know the answer to a questions, they look for the answer, and as a last way out ask someone. As adults, the same inquisitive child is taught by society to avoid or be afraid of asking questions. Lunacy, you think. But that is the way it is. It seems that many stop learning by the time they reach the age of thirty.
We learn by experience, without making mistakes would we learn!
Many organizations overemphasize the strict adherence to following processes to the point of destroying creativity altogether.
Build an environment of learning and experiencing
Profits rests more in new advances and innovations than managing what we know.
Acquiring knowledge through curiosity
A cat is not guided by the whims and supposed-actions, or shoulds, but lives the given life as it feels like. It is not concerned with others opinion of its state of doing. If it feels like exploring it will. If it feels like sleeping (wherever it happens to be when tireness hits it), which it does about 20 hours of the day, it sleeps. It does what it wants. Perhaps, the Nike commercial "Just Do It" was invented by a cat. The truth is that curiosity has never killed any of the cats I have had. Unforeseen events, careless humans, but more frequently what really killed my cats was old age. So don't be afraid of losing your life over your curiosity. Be curious. From there you'll find fulfillment in life and be rewarded richly.
Lars G. Harrison can be reached at lars_harrison@yahoo.com.
Copyright © 1997 Harrison on Leadership. All Rights Reserved.