Lothar Dietrich: PixabayCuriosity killed the cat.
These four words are only the first half of the proverb. The complete saying is curiosity killed the cat but satisfaction brought it back.
The earliest reference is found in a comedy written in 1598 by Ben Johnson titled ‟Every Man and His Humour.” The word `care´ which in those days meant curiosity was used.
The reason I am writing about this strange proverb is ADDers are naturally curious.
We can almost not resist investigating anything and everything. Sometimes we might even duplicate the temptation just to make sure nothing has changed since the first - or last - time.
The perennial problem is we struggle to pay sufficient attention to examine the issue or object to actually understand it. Hence we often get the wrong end of the stick, and go down yet another rabbit hole.
The end result of this superficial curiosity is embarrassment, ranging from furious blushing to abject and soul destroying humiliation.
Leonardo Vince was insatiably curious. His wide range of interests from art to engineering, botany, cartography, anatomy, warfare and even architecture is a result of his intense curiosity about everything.
But being human, and having ADHD, this vast array of subjects also meant that he never really got into the depth that the subject demanded, so his giant intellect was satisfied by the quantity of his interests, not the depth of a few.
Just imagine what he could have achieved if he paid attention to just those that interested him the most!
What does the example of Leonardo mean for us?
- Don´t spread yourself too wide.
- Always have a few interests, and get into those with a passion and intensity that befits you.
- If your passion wanes, or even dies, then find another passion. Notice I say ‟another passion,” not another interest.
- If you have a list of interests - it´s an interesting exercise to write one - then rank them from the exhilarating to the exciting, and select from the top only
A most appropriate example of human curiosity is our exploration of space. In the last 80 years or so, we explored most of neighbouring planets, we have sent an Explorer beyond the boundaries of our solar system, we have landed a couple of car-sized vehicles on Mars which is 225-million kilometres away, one of which is aptly named Curiosity.
All newborns are born curious, animals more so than human babies who are pretty dozy for the first weeks of their lives before they are capable of investigating their world.
Never ever stop being curious. Anyone who is not curious about anything is a dead man walking.
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