When was the last time that you struck-up a conversation with a complete stranger – simply because you wanted to know something that you thought they may have some idea of ? I do it every chance I get ! Why ? Because I believe in the principle of learning from every experience that I have, every day of my life.
What I’m starting to see is a reducing curiosity in many people. People have stopped asking questions – people have stopped wanting to exchange with other people in order to gain new knowledge/ perspectives. Why is this ?
Here’s where I think the answers to this question mainly lie:
a) People have become “afraid” to ask (“stranger danger” syndrome).
b) People have become more distrustful of the opinions/ views of others.
c) People don’t want to appear “ignorant”.
d) (inflated ego) People often consider that their views are the “right” or “best” perspectives; so aren’t interested in seeking input from others.
e) The convenience of online/ internet access; and the belief that everything that appears from a Google search is the exhaustive fountain of all knowledge and truth.
Some of the most remarkable opportunities in my life have appeared simply through holding a conversation with another person. Still the strongest form of connection we can have with another person is face-to-face. Digital communication is only a convenience – a means to an end. In itself it does not enable strong relationships to develop – only quick/ timely exchanges of information.
I’ve just been helping my son address a school project which concerns the Treaty of Waitangi. Would be fair to say that most of what he learned today resulted from the “discussions” that we had – which led to him then preparing his written work; far more so than from searching for related information via Google. And what I could see happening in my lad through these discussions was his desire to “ask questions” – his curiosity was spiking as he asked questions in order to make discoveries.
So my plea to people everywhere is:
a) Be prepared/ open to holding conversations with others – verbal conversations ignite all sorts of rich emotions.
b) Open your mind to the universe, and in doing so observe closely in order to understand – but also ask questions to understand in even greater detail/ with greater clarity. Restricting your mind’s capacity to only that stimulus that you “want” to sense leads to short-sightedness, and often close-mindedness.
I particularly love the mantra “Be a life-long learner“. Puketapu School in Hawke’s Bay has chosen this expression as a guiding light for the development of its pupils. What a wonderful outwardly-focused ethos to live by !