Curiosity
Life isn’t all that interesting if you’re not interested. It’s dangerous when hardly anyone is.
A few months ago, I signed up to volunteer as a trail steward with the National Park Service at Arches National Park. The “job” involves walking the various trails within the park, giving visitors directions as needed, and answering whatever questions I can about the park’s geology, wildlife, plant life, and history.
There is probably no better way to find out just how little you know than taking questions from visitors from all over the world. Often, it is the children in particular that can really stump you, and believe me, if you’re wearing a national park uniform the children expect you to have some answers.
Fortunately, the Park Service provides training, which includes shadowing other volunteers and rangers as they explain how arches form over vast stretches of time, the unusual biology of native lizards (six of the twelve lizard species in Arches National Park consist only of females), the fascinating life history of juniper trees, and more. They also provide a nature guide so we can look things up as the need arises.
I have visited Arches National Park many times over the more than half a century I’ve lived on this planet so far. That familiarity led me to believe I knew a lot about…
