When I worked part-time in a restaurant, I was told that when I picked up a tray of drinks, I should slide it off the cooler where we set our trays. I thought this was arbitrary, so one night when I was in a hurry, I picked up the tray by pulling towards me on the 2 sides of the tray. The next thing I knew, I was covered in beer, cokes, and water. Everyone burst out laughing. One of the other waitresses said, “That is why we tell you to slide the tray off the cooler. Otherwise, the suction breaks when you are mid-air, and you end up wearing whatever is inside the glasses on the tray.” From this point forward, I understood why to slide the tray instead of picking it straight up. I also had to pay for the broken glasses.
Sometimes, when I ask why questions, the other party thinks I am challenging their authority or disagreeing with what I have been told to do.. This used to happen with my Dad. It seemed he didn’t feel he had to explain why when he told me to do something. He didn’t understand that if I knew the why, I would understand the task I was being asked to do.
When I’m in a meeting or in a room of people learning something, the leader will often ask if there are any questions. I’ve noticed that there are seldom questions asked. I wonder if people don’t have questions or if they don’t want to ask. I have a hard time keeping my questions to myself because of my curiosity.
Sometimes, curiosity can get me in trouble. I don’t like being in trouble, so I work at curbing my curiosity. For example, many of my friends would tell stories about sneaking a peek at what they were getting for Christmas. They would figure out their parents’ hiding places and snoop. I avoided this behavior for two reasons. I was curious but would have felt awful if I had ruined the surprise. I also feared the consequences of this behavior.
Curiosity can be a great trait and a bad trait depending on the circumstances. Scientists would be ineffective in their careers without curiosity. Many of the greatest breakthroughs have come about because of curiosity. On the other hand, curiosity has caused people to find out things they don’t want to know, like spoiling a surprise party or finding out a secret that wasn’t for their ears to hear.
But despite the occasional missteps of curiosity — like spilling a tray of drinks or accidentally finding out a secret — it’s still what keeps the world turning. Imagine if everyone just accepted things at face value without ever asking “why.” We’d still think the Earth is flat, or imagine if people still believed that the sun revolves around the Earth. Sometimes, asking “why” can shift our entire understanding of the world, even if it sounds like a small or silly question at first.
Curiosity sparks innovation and progress, even if it sometimes leads to a slightly embarrassing moment. So the next time you’re about to ask a question, go ahead, but maybe double-check that tray first!
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