Did Curiosity Actually Kill the Cat?

First of all, let me start by apologizing to all the animal kingdom, on behalf of humanity, for our crass and uncouth references in innumerable articles and poems. Be it as 'busy as a bee' or as 'wily as a fox', we take our dear animal friends to the cleaners. Jokes, metaphors, similes. You name it, we've done it. Anything in the name of the "creative license" that all of us possess. But who issues the license in the first place? Is there a test? Do I need to fill a form? Where do I apply? But no. From the day we are born, we are equipped with the ammo to blow up every sane idea in the name of creativity. I guess, there should be a test. Let's see humans write a test on how dumb we all are, for ruining the only planet fit for survival, in the radius of at least a million light years. Just leave your number. In the unlikely event, that you do make sense, we'll get back to you.

Coming back to the animals, if any one of those poor creatures was to read a toddlers English text, I' m sure he'd put a glock to his head and pull. Humans don't want to be seen saying small sentences in some pre-nursery book. We humans only speak long, complicated and meaningful sentences. So we put in ducks, bears, cats, dogs and God-knows-what, to take our place! We won't be caught dead in one of those Disney color-by-numbers book. No Siree! We are just too subtle for stuff like that. A quantum physics coloring book. Maybe.

And when I think of the animal kingdom, the most irritating reference I come across, is of a poor little cat being killed, by the virtue of being curious by nature. Mind you, curiosity is indeed a virtue (confirmed it on Wikipedia!). So, is it to signify death as a result of asking questions, or is it just to stop our neighbors from poking their noses in our matters. Well, it sure hasn't done much for the latter. But when you think of it, it's actually this 'spirit of inquiry', which has dragged humanity away from mountain caves, to the place we commonly refer to as the 'urban jungle'. Aren't we all curious. What's for dinner? What's the score? Who's that girl? Who's bag is this? Does God exist? What's the time? Did you see that? Are we there yet? Bah!

Is it just me, or are we actually asking too many questions? Or is 'too much' still not enough? I guess the questions start flowing, the moment we take our first breath and let out that wail in the doctor's arms. What time were you born? Which hospital? Which zodiac were you born under? Phew! But that's the way it is, and has been, as long as I can remember. It's hard as it is to keep breathing. Now we have to answer questions too?!

This spirit of inquiry drives us. People ask questions. Questions need to be answered. So we open offices. Put in computers and more people. We make money off questions. Asking questions. Then answering them. This drives us to office, then back home, and the same for the next gazillion years. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

Curiosity is the name of the game. How do you think Google made its fortune. Over 90 million searches are made daily. Can you believe that?! How many questions are there? But that's what everything boils down to. Gaining knowledge. Then questioning it. Then doing it all over again.

To conclude, questions are the essence of being human, being aware, being alive! That's what keeps us from becoming the computer you are reading this incoherent babbling on. That's what separates us from the ducks and the dogs. You don't see a chicken asking his buddy, "Temme, why did the human cross the road?" See, now that's what I was talking about, when I started talking. Illogical animal references. It's just too hard, not getting sucked into the devious conspiracies of the universe. Well I guess I've been infected too. But you are still safe. Go on. Tell them everything. How I fought them off. How I was overpowered. Tell them how brave I was. Tell them my story.

May the force be with you!