“Curiosity, the Great Teacher”

by Dr. Larry Morris

Someone asked his friend, "When did you start wearing glasses?" "When my curiosity got the better of my vanity," the friend replied. Sometimes we are afraid to ask a question because we are worried that it may be a dumb question—but then our curiosity gets the better of our need to be in the know and we ask our question anyway, and perhaps we learn something we didn't know before. Sometimes we are so sophisticated that we think of curiosity as a childish trait—we say "I am no longer curious"—as if we have arrived at some superior level of understanding. But curiosity can be a great learning tool. Scientists, artists, poets and inventors are always people with extraordinary curiosity—they really want to know how things work in their particular disciplines. Curiosity is another name for the willingness to explore the unknown—to be always open and searching for the true, the real and the good.