Curiosity's Tool

Amalie Cobb was invited to give a speech to the graduating class of 2022 at her former high school. She decided to meet them before graduation because it's been more than thirty years, and she was curious. The auditorium was packed with eager young minds awaiting her.

After introducing herself, a voice asked, "Mrs. Cobb, a group of us read up about you in your yearbook and we have lots of questions we would like to ask."

Amalie smiled and said, "go on."

"In your high school yearbook, it says that you are Miss Perfect. Are you?"

Amalie smiled, thinking about the pain and sorrow of her life, then said, "perfection comes from the heart of those who see in others what they are unable or afraid to do for themselves. My school mates say that because I like to do the right things."

"Care to explain?" someone said.

"Well," Amalie said, breathing away from the microphone, to step back without pain. "As children, we were all curious, and as we grow and knowledge increases, we become less curious. I didn't, curiosity follows me everywhere I go. As I age, I add common sense, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to it."

"I like the way she thinks," a voice said.

Holding up a thirty-seven-year-old yearbook, another student asks, "says here that you refused to run a red light when you were young. Why not?"

"Curiosity aids me in asking how my grandfather was killed. Someone ran a red light."

"So, you already knew the consequences," someone asked.

Amalie nods as the audience gasps.

In a chorus, they say, "we are sorry to hear that."

Another child questioned, "You were chosen out of more than three hundred past students, because you weren't the typical teenager. I mean you refused to break the rules or do what your hormones demand of you. You didn't even drink."

"Thanks to curiosity, my mother's best friend's brother was injured and crippled by a drunken driver," Amalie notified.

The audience gasped.

"Ok," a voice said. "Your friends thought you were boring because you stopped at all stop signs when driving."

Amalie smiled, pulling memories in one by one, "my brother failed his first driving test because he didn't stop at the stop sign. And my cousin got her first ticket at eighteen years old for the same thing."

"Damn!" a student said.

"Didn't you have a boyfriend?" a voice questioned.

With a big smile, Amalie shared, "There were a few boys I had a crush on."

"What did you do?" an eager voice quizzed.

"Well," she says. . . ."

"Teenage pregnancy scared you?" a voice asked before she could answer.

With a smile, she said, "I was aware of the possibility. My parents encourage the value of waiting until I was mature and more responsible. Plus, they believed that I should wait until I get married."

"She is old, isn't she," someone said.

"Ethics and morals were valuable then and still are," someone snapped. "Some of us don't mind waiting."

"Yea," another female adds. "I want to enjoy my life first before I have to raise anyone."

"So, that means you didn't smoke either?" someone asked, quickly changing the mood.

"Can I answer that?" a female in the center ask.

Amalie's smile expanded as she nodded.

"Someone you know died of cancer?"

"That information wasn't around when she was a child," another voice shouts.

Sadness tried to ease in, but Amalie forced a smile, then shared, "Actually, both of you are right. I think the right people knew the dangers of cigarettes then. In our community, six males and seven females died of lung cancer in just one year. The only thing that connected them, were smoking. And over the years, many more died of various cancers related to smoking."

"What about weed? Weren't you curious to find out why it made humans high?"

"Yea," another voice said before she could answer. "Didn't you want to feel high?"

Amalie took a deep breath, shifting around memories to choose the most effective one. Then said, "I have seen the results of its addiction to family and friends and how it complicates their lives. I have many friends who failed the drug test for their dream jobs."

"So sometimes curiosity can be harmful?" a unique voice said in understanding.

"That's why she said she adds common sense and wisdom to it," another student answers.

"So, you didn't dye your hair blue, sneak out to a party, or disobeyed your parents?"

"Yeah," a group to her left said. "You live a boring teenage life."

Pulling the correct memories in, "A friend got raped at one of those parties she snuck out to. Another one was brutally assaulted on her way home after midnight from a rock concert her father forbade her to go to."

"You allowed all of the negative results of the ones around you to prevent you from living?" the same unique voice questions.

Taking a deep breath, choosing the correct memory, and answering, "at ten years old, I already know who I was. Seeing what others around me had to do to find themselves and learn from life in the most painful ways, didn't make sense to me."

Mouths agape and stay that way for a while until the same unique voice quests again, "so you figured if you did what they did, the results would be the same?"

Amalie's thoughts went back further, "sometimes we take a different route, but still end up in the wrong place."

"So you think by not doing what everyone else does, you would end up on the road of your choice?"

Damn! Amalie thought. She is me.

Nodding left to right, then saying, "I have witnessed the consequences of certain decisions that the ones around me made through influences. I wanted to make my own decisions based on what I know and want for myself. Not because of what my parents or friends want."

"So you want to be the one in-charge of your life, not Fate, Destiny or influences?" the same unique voice quest.

"I am the only one feeling the pain of any negative choices or decisions I make. Is that a bad thing?"

"No, it's not. But by doing the right things, does it always take you to the right place?"

With a smile, staring at her for the first time. An image began to form in Amalie's mind, "no, sometimes it takes me to the wrong place."

"Were you discouraged?"

Smiling as the memory connects, nodding, "no."

"Why not?"

"Our decisions will take us to victory or defeat. But with defeat comes vital life lessons that eventually led to victory," Amalie educates.

Silence held on, and Amalie broke it, "Is Christine Walters your mom?"

Standing up, she smiled and said, "You remembered her."

"Yes, she was very smart, and you looked a lot like her. How is she doing?"

"She died when I was twelve years old?"

"I am so sorry to hear that," Amalie said.

"My name is Amalie, like yours. She encouraged that if I should allow anyone to influence my life, I should choose you."

Amalie's memory went into overdrive as a picture of Christine Walters was shoved into the front of her brain.

"Did you know our name mean, 'curious individual?'"

Caught off guard, Amalie's heart skipped a beat, then she notified, "No, I didn't know. I learned the value of curiosity at a young age because I have seen how it could save my life!"

Curiosity is a tool. But it can be a weapon in the hands of a fool.

I had an impatient life, and I learned the value and consequences of curiosity. I, too, add common sense, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to it. I was often teased that I behaved as if I am perfect and don't take risks. Curiosity is a life-saving tool when used correctly.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoy it and will savor more from some talented writers on this platform, whose links are below.

https://vocal.media/fiction/stranger-8inpt00cel

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