I posted a few days ago about Larry King’s interview on NPR’s “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” news quiz. That post was about honesty. This one’s about curiosity.
Peter Sagal said that for decades if someone in the news wanted to get their side of the story out, to talk directly to the people, they would go on the Larry King show. Why?
“They knew they would be asked good questions” (at least that’s what Larry thinks). Larry also said that he is “intensely curious about people.” That’s a really good thing, and probably why people wanted to be on his show.
King has tapped into something that I think is rare. People (myself included) like to talk about themselves. So when people, like Larry, ask us good questions, we love it because we get to talk. Ah, but here’s the rub, if everyone wants to talk, but no one wants to ask, we’ve got a problem.
So, people who are curious, particularly curious about people, not nosy, but genuinely interested in people, their background, thoughts, feelings, ideas, can deeply bless the people around them. Curious people are focused on others. They don’t need to talk about themselves. They truly believe that people are fascinating and therefore worthy of attention. Their curiosity leads them to keep asking questions.
Personally, I believe that people are made in God’s image, and therefore valuable and interesting. Both my parents were always curious about others, but I am not as curious as I would like to be.
So, are you curious? Why or why not? How can we become more interested in others?