This Black History Month was different than in previous years for me. The voices of my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my grandfather, and other ancestors with
unfamiliar voices but just as loud guided my celebration and reflection. They must have known I needed their resilience in this moment.
Their voices spoke not just of resilience, but with urgent, constant questioning.
“Now Doodle, who is that gonna help”, I heard my grandma say. (NOTE: Nobody can call me Doodle but her.)
“Why are you going around your knee to get to your elbow”, my great-grandma would ask in her matter-of-fact way.
“Do you know what that means” came from my grandpa, the only know-it-all I whole-heartedly loved.
This internal interrogation would have been paralyzing had it come from my own sense of doubt, but hearing it from them in their voices was somehow motivating and mobilizing.
While trying to unpack why, I came across this blog post by Charlie Jane Anders, "Hope is Important, But So Is Curiosity." I also revisited a 2019 talk from Sydette Harry, “You Only Code As Well As You Listen”. Both examine curiosity as a necessary catalyst for change and innovation.
I reflected on my younger days in my great-grandma's house, listening to her talk with family and neighbors about everything and nothing. It’s not that much of an exaggeration to say that problems of the world were solved in her kitchen. Those solutions came from “being nosey and all up in each other’s business” as she would say.
And that’s when I had my light bulb moment: we must commit to curiosity.
Asking questions and listening with a sense of curiosity are the first steps in discovery. Our worldview and opinions are shaped by the questions we ask, to whom, and the answers we receive. It’s why toddlers ask “why” a gazillion times and “you won’t know if you don’t ask” is a common phrase. As advisors, the core of our work is relationship building through discovery. But in our culture of information overload and instant everything, it’s all too common to unquestioningly accept what we see and hear which leads to normalizing mis- and disinformation.
Curiosity not only leads to discovery, it leads to understanding which is foundational in forming connections and community to support and sustain us personally and professionally. In the last few weeks of Daylight’s inaugural IPA cohort, we spent time sharing our experiences as advisors in community during this difficult time and learning about cultural dexterity and its importance in our work. Without curiosity, including continuous learning, how can we deepen our emotional intelligence and cultural knowledge to build bridges and pathways to a just world?
We must commit to asking questions and not just getting answers, but uncovering truth. And once we know, we must do. It’s the only way forward. That’s what my ancestors’ voices were telling me. I’ll honor them with gratitude by working towards finding the answer to the most important question today:
What can I do now?
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