Just Curious
I spent last week about as far from the ‘hood as you can get. My family and I were at my sister and brother-in-law’s—a place up in the mountains with many more horses than neighbors. I’m fond of my own neighborhood’s noisy style of New Year celebration (firecrackers and firearms in the air), so I missed that. I enjoyed tromping around the pine trees but still found my thoughts drifting to the city.
Josie and Scott “break” and train wild horses. Having failed to stay on top of tame horses several times in my life, I have no inclination for the wild version. I was happy to watch from a distance as Scott climbed into a recently-repaired corral with two mustangs—recently repaired because the horses went crazy and demolished its steel panels a couple weeks ago. I had imagined the horse-breaking process to be something like an extended rodeo event. After all hell comes loose and the dust settles, either the cowboy or the horse ends up broke.
What actually happened was very different. Scott walked into the middle of the corral and held out his hand. The horses backed away and banged into the far rails. For a long time they stood watching, then one took a couple steps toward Scott. Eventually horse and human were nose to nose. “He’s curious,” Josie said.
It could have applied equally to the horse or Scott. Though Scott and Josie are already walking encyclopedias of technical horse knowledge, they have an insatiable thirst for new outside-the-box thinking about horse-human interaction. The Horse Whisperer? Old-school, kind of worn-out by now. Josie explained left-brain/right-brain studies and visual perception and other stuff, but the part that caught my ear was the word “curious.”
Earlier this year, Josie and Scott picked out these mustangs from a herd of 50 freshly-captured wild horses. Josie told me how they spent a long time with binoculars discussing various physical characteristics of individuals in the herd. Then Scott climbed into the pen, sat down in the middle, and waited. “For a few of the horses, their curiosity overcame their fear and they approached Scott. Those had the intelligence we were after. They were the horses capable of learning from people and interacting with them.”
Sure enough, here in the corral they were interacting with Scott, responding to quiet commands. “See him licking his lips? When horses learn something new, they lick their lips. As soon as Scott sees that, he knows he can go on to the next step.” I hadn’t noticed the lips. I wondered what else I was missing.
“Their curiosity overcame their fear.” I don’t want to get too corny with the horse-human comparison, but that wouldn’t be a bad thing to aspire to. So many people I jostle with every day in the city. Am I capable of learning from people and interacting with them? What am I afraid of? What am I curious about? In what ways do I back up against the far side of the corral to stay safe? What would some tentative steps look like?
I admire people who stay curious through life. In 2006 I want to let my curiosity overcome my defenses with people I may have fears about. Not just physical fears, but fears of changing my heart or head. To name a few for starters… Kids who tag our alley with graffiti. Jehovah’s Witnesses at our door. Gay students in my kids’ high school. Mexican immigrants on our block who speak no English at all. Black people angry at White people. Even tougher for me, White people angry at Black people. (Maybe, anybody angry with anybody). Rich people. Tough-guy cops. Wow… the list is coming easier than I thought… a scary thing so I’d better stop. I haven’t even mentioned learning new things about God.
Curious where it all will lead. Watch my lips.
Comments
...love it...the curious thing! Read the top of my blog...three statements. The last one? Stay curious. :)
Posted by: Wes Roberts | January 3, 2006 06:16 AM
I, too, have thought about the wild horse thing. It seems curiousity would naturally lead to trust. Trust is essential for the human/horse or human/human bond. Do we barge in or go slowly? My experience with Romanian orphan teens is to take it slow while enticing them to get to know me. Next time I go, I will watch for the lips.
Posted by: mama rose | January 3, 2006 09:41 AM
Hey...missed the linkage the first time through. Thanx! Shannon's birthmom is a horse trainer, also exceptional with animals...so I've read your words with triple interes. 1...for the pure value of journeying with you and learning something. 2...because we like to keep up with Lestia's world. 3...so that I can be alert to watch the lips of thee and Sam when we get to do lunch. :) Most grateful for you, Scott!!!
Posted by: Wes | January 3, 2006 05:48 PM
I've realized 'Curious' in my own life recently. As I read this blog; the paralells were as clear as day to me. As I wait for a job review to unfold at work, full of anxiety; I haven't been praying but staying back up against the rail. Not curious.
Rather, I have chosen to handle this whole thing myself, complaining to others, worrying and not praying all the way there.
I can only imagine what God thinks as He stands in my center ring; holding out his hand, waiting, waiting, waiting but I don't move.
Posted by: Jerry Hooper | January 7, 2006 10:12 AM
Scott - loved the analogy. I look at it two ways. #1 Let my curiosity overcome my fear of people and situations and #2, be willing to wait and pray for those curious people who are hungry for God to approach me instead of being frustrated that some of those that I am working with don't seem to be interested in the God I am trying so hard to get them interested in. Make sense? Loved the blog. Great idea.
Posted by: Kim Hooper | January 9, 2006 01:30 PM