“I can’t believe they’re spraying gas on the plane!”
The words came from an inexperienced flyer seated around me. I looked out the window curiously, wondering what could have possibly made her think that was happening.
When you’re sitting at the gate ready to take off, there’s a lot going on. Meals and snacks are being replenished through one door of the aircraft. People are loading through another. Tubes and wires are hooked up to the plane, like an RV in a campground, filling some tanks and emptying others. And if the weather is right, there’s de-icing liquid being sprayed from what looks like a firehose.
On this particular flight, the smell of the refueling gas (or whatever sourced the fumes) leaked in as the anti-freeze liquid poured down the windows. So although they were not spraying gas on the plane, our olfactory senses combined with the orange spray would make it seem that way.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t imagine that would be the default assumption.
Even for a new flyer, would these context clues trump logic? Especially for a new flyer, who has little understanding of what it takes to get a plane in the air, why would this be the assumption?
It’s easy to forget that each new adventure, each new industry, each new experience we live has been well thought-out before we got to it.
So when we see something that doesn’t quite make sense, wouldn’t it be better to be curious? Instead of assuming we know the answers, what if we asked more questions?
How much less would we fear if we asked more questions?
How much more empathy would we express if we defaulted to curiosity?
Consider how much more kind the world would be if each person’s first response was to be curious instead of pass judgement.
Today, choose curiosity. Ask more questions.