Pursue Curiosity  (Part 1)                                              (go to Part 2)
--Show That You Care

They say it's what killed the cat, but a growing body of medical
evidence is proving otherwise: that a long, happy life is fueled by
curiosity.  You don't have to be current on the latest research to
instinctively know that survival and success require curiosity.  
Without it, you can forget about getting good grades at school.  Or
coming up with the next big idea at work.  Or getting the perfect gift  
for your friend on her birthday.  If your brain were a tank for curiosity,
where would the needle on the gauge be?    

For many people, curiosity simply means wanting to know about
something when in fact the word harbors a deeper meaning:
wanting to care about someone.  When your curiosity for the stars
leads you to buy a telescope, it shows you know how to care about
yourself.  If only it were so easy to care about the friend who never
calls.  Or the parent who missed out on most of your life.  And the
colleague who barely acknowledges your existence.  How can we
be expected to care about such people?

Consider for a moment a husband and wife who are getting ready
to go out and meet their friends.  If the husband is running late,
does this mean the wife can now veer off schedule?  Imagine if the
wife decided to think: since he’s twenty minutes late, that means
I'm entitled to my twenty, and now that I think about it, he was ten
minutes late last week so that gives me a good half hour.  That’s
not caring, about either her husband or meeting their friends on
time, that’s being “calculating.”

Life produces two kinds of people: those who care and those
who calculate.  Do you care about the ideas in your term paper, or
expand the margins to fill in the pages?  Do you care about your
colleagues and work, or how many minutes there are until lunch?  
Instead of caring about what might be meaningful to your spouse,
does an expensive present solve all problems?  What are the
consequences of calculating?  A terrible paper.  An unbearable
workplace.  And a ten-year old marriage that ends with the lawyers
calculating what belongs to who right down to the last broken
teacup.

The single most important approach to life, whether it's at school,
work or home, is to ask yourself how you should care, not how
much you should care.  Think of a baby that gets into every drawer,
a child who expects to find wonder inside everything.  Approach the
people in your life with a similar mindset.  Care for the right
reasons, and you'll disarm others into being caring as well.  

How can I show that I care?
Lesson 1   Pursue Curiosity
--Show That You Care