Curiosity Killed The Cat!

The above title is a bit strange, because of course curiosity is the one thing that has kept the whole species of felines alive throughout history. Their ability to look at everything, anywhere, then judge whether it's edible or not is one of the great qualities of all types of cats.

We humans also possess the greatest curiosity in the whole of the animal kingdom, this is why we are so dominant and so dangerous to both ourselves and the planet we live on. If it wasn't for our eternal quest to find out why, what and how, we would still be hunter-gatherers, scraping a meagre existence.

Our urge to go over the horizon to find new pastures has led to trade routes thousands of years old, where spices and ideas have been transported around the globe. Unfortunately, they also brought religion and infectious deceases. But what we now think of as indigenous plants and animals were usually brought by others. If you have ever had any meal that is remotely Italian in taste, you will know that, without the humble tomato, the Italians might as well shut up shop and move on. Well the tomato is a native of Iran/Persia and was brought to Italy by the Romans, no doubt. Speaking of Romans we have them to thank for the rabbits that are such a familiar sight here in Britain.

My wife always claims that when I was a child I was feral. I was no different to any other kid in my neighbourhood, we played and looked at the world around us. We did disappear for long periods and fended for ourselves, but it made us very ingenious. It also increased our imagination, because, like all ideologies, what we couldn't explain we gave a supernatural explanation to, hence the amount of ghost stories I have to tell.

When, as a ten year old, my friend was given a reel to reel tape deck, it had a slight squeak on it. This drove him mad. I called to his house one day to find the tape deck completely stripped down. I mean stripped. Everything was removed. My friend then cleaned and oiled all the pieces of the machine. When I called at his house the next day the whole machine had been rebuilt and was in perfect working order, though he had six bolts left over. That was over forty-five years ago. Yesterday I called to see him, and we were cleaning out his garage when we came across this tape deck. We then had a bizarre experience of listening to our childhood selves that we had recorded many years ago, because the tape deck still works today and, taped to the side of the recorder, are the six bolts that were left over. The same guy will now, as an adult, strip down and rebuild any machine that is faulty. He has never had a day's training on how to do this. He claims its just common sense, curiosity and enthusiasm.

I, on the other hand, am best kept away from anything mechanical. I can be quite dangerous with a spanner. But I do love anything to do with the mind, and I love to question everything and anything. I have no taboo subjects, which unnerves a lot of people, but I'm quite happy to discuss any subject at any level.

I often ask questions or have an idea, and people who know me roll their eyes, thinking, "Here we go again!" Others think that I think of the strangest of things, but for me I can't understand why people wouldn't ask the questions that I do. The other day, while out shopping... sorry taking my wife out shopping, I was, as usual, standing outside a shop waiting for her to buy the usual stuff she doesn't need. Then I noticed a man walking through the shopping centre. He was tall and grey and had deformities to his arms caused by the thalidomide drug. If you are not aware of this drug, it was hailed as the wonder drug for women with morning sickness during pregnancy in the sixties. It was later found to stop the limbs on the fetus from developing, something the company already knew, as the same effect had been shown on animals while testing the drug. This led to lots of babies being born without arms and legs. The man I was looking at had no arms, just two little hands coming out of his shoulders. Normally I wouldn't give this man a second glance or think any more about him but as he walked past me I noticed how tall he was and how he only had two little hands and I thought, "How does he take a pee?" When my wife came out of the shop, I pointed the man out and asked her the same question, to which she replied, “You are one sick bunny!” Why? What is wrong with that question?

I think we should all ask questions and debate everything. Try this, if you are of good honest mind and body. If you are the most law abiding person on the face of the earth. Imagine that you were out in the middle of nowhere and you came across a haul of gold and jewels. You know that these are ancient and worth a fortune. You also know that your house is about to be repossessed and you and your family are to be evicted. The jewels can never be traced back to you and it will save you and your family to take them and keep quiet, would you take them?

No one would suffer, though you have technically stolen them, but from whom? But they don't rightly belong to you. But who has the right to them, the government? Why should they have them; what right do they have to them? What about the land owner? What if the landowner is some inbred aristocrat whose ancestors had spent their lives kissing the arse of some other inbred monarch, and they were given the land as a thank you. They, technically, are living on stolen land. So what are you going to do because it's a victimless crime and it will save you.

Try this one. Lots of people tell me they would never be unfaithful to their partners. But what if you were away from society, lost, for a long period, with someone of the opposite sex who was kind and loving and you had no one but each other? What if once again no one would find out? Would you give in to your human urges and "Love the one you're with" or would you struggle on alone, racked with temptation?

Who would ever know, it is just two people giving each other love when they both needed it. But it is deceiving your loved ones, the ones that trust and love you. But they are not there, and they will never know. You have no intentions of ever leaving them, and the love you need and receive now may make you stronger for when you do get back. But what if there's a child born out of this union of convenience?

Discuss these topics with others and you will be surprised what answers you receive, people have to be honest with their responses. Most won't be. Most people will tell you what they think you want to hear, or what they should say to make them look like good upstanding citizens. But  I will say there is no such thing as a victimless crime, sometimes the victim might be you, the perpetrator of the crime. You could argue if there is no victim there can be no crime. It also depends on what you think crime is? I would argue with every fibre of my being that apartheid was a crime against humanity, yet I have met others who thought it was best for the human race to be divided! Who is right? Depends on your politics I suppose.

Oh, yes, just one more thing, before I go off to work (I do work you know, it's only talking but it pays the bills) You know earlier that I mentioned the drug Thalidomide and how it had terrible consequences for the families of the people who took it? Well, guess what, it turns out that what was bad for one thing is good for another, they found out that it cures leprosy! But before you start cheering, the only reason the company that manufactures the drug found out was because they were still selling it for morning sickness to women in the third world, where leprosy is rife.

Maybe we should all ask more questions sometimes!