You don’t have to be Interesting, just be Interested.

Albert Einstein once said, “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

I love those words and I live by them, and it has paid me huge dividends in life. Curiosity can quash our arrogance and quench our quest for knowledge. If used with care and concern, curiosity can change minds, melt hearts, open doors, and bring enormous joy into your life. It is an amazing tool you can use to enhance your life in so many ways.

Here are couple of stories from my life to explain how this works.

There were 16 people on my hospice team. I knew about their families. I knew what country they were born and raised in. I asked them questions, not because I was intrusive, but because I was interested. I knew what kind of car each of my team members drove. I didn’t follow them to find out. I paid attention.

We all worked in the field visiting patients in various assisted living facilities. l would notice them driving to a facility or leaving one at the same time I was driving in.

Knowing what car someone drives is my way of caring about them. When I saw them on the road, I said a prayer.

Part of our job as hospice chaplains was being on-call twice a month. During that 8 hour-shift, you will be called to visit the family if a patient dies. I loved meeting people, even in situations that are considered sad and difficult.

I would be walking into homes in the middle of the night, in strange neighborhoods, and meeting people whom I had never met before, facing the most painful life situation — death.

One night, I was called to attend the death of a patient in Hollywood, Florida. When I arrived, there were three police officers milling around the house. After I arrived, two of them left, but one stayed. We had to sit there for two hours waiting for the undertaker.

So, I started talking to the policeman. I asked him: “Do you ever feel bad about giving traffic citations?”

He said no.

Then he started telling me stories about the Canadian drivers who make illegal U turns and then argue with him about the citation.

He told me about a traffic stop that morning and the driver’s excuse for speeding:

“I was trying to keep up with traffic.”

To which the cop replied,

“There is no traffic.”

And the driver said:

“That’s how far behind I am.”

I was always kind of jealous about police officers taking their cars home. I wanted to know how the taxpayer benefits when the police officer is allowed to take the cruiser home. He shed light on what I was curious about but had no clue about.

For example, if you give your car to the next officer after your 8-hour shift and he drives for another eight hours and the next officer for another eight hours, there will be three separate drivers with different driving habits, continuously driving the same car. It is not good for the car in the long run. Besides, there is so much equipment in police cars these days — computers, gas masks, guns, rifles, tasers — that accountability becomes an issue when different officers use the same car.

He quenched my curiosity about the various gadgets a law enforcement person must carry, with a show and tell:

Gun, flashlight, hand cuffs, mace, a collapsible baton, and a radio.

I had an easier job because I can go to work without any of those items and this guy had to carry all that. I had a new appreciation for the job the police do.

Curiosity can quash your arrogance and quench your quest for knowledge.

(from Cosmic Kindergarten: Earthly Lessons for a Heavenly Life)