There must be a reason why Chrome, Internet explorer, Safari and the likes have been so popular, holding the stage for Google, Bing and other search engines. This reason is exploring. The word has various meanings, depending on whether you intend to explain it implicitly or explicitly. On the grand scheme of things, we see that exploring is in our human genome: we have discovered the seven continents, all hundred and ninety-five countries, established that there are eight planets (sorry, Pluto), that there is a universe and multiverse. This was due to people refusing to be locked away from the world, or underestimating what the world has to offer us. It was also a result of people skeptically looking at the sky and the stars that sit still staring back at them, believing and self-assuring that there is so much yet to be revealed. In other words, we are a very curious species.

When people think of the world ‘explore’, one of the first things that come to mind is traveling. When people think travel, often times they refer to abroad. This idea is what I think causes people to not want to move around; the whole process of traveling, the stress that can come from planning all that - let’s face it, it can be discouraging. But that depends on if we think of travel as merely crossing oceans or borders. What about when we go to school or work or go shopping? Contrary to what many believe, traveling is not for ‘some’ people: These are forms of travel, too; but we don’t necessarily think of it that way as they’re workaday things. When doing these things, do we pay attention to what’s outside, and yes, I mean traffic, people on the streets and other things. There’s a beauty in noticing your environment, even if it’s something you’re accustomed to, there’s always something different. Taking a road trip? going to a museum? even the park? a different kind of exploration that pretty much everyone recommends once in a while. However, everyday activities like a commute can be just as fascinating.

From travels, recent and old, there’s one conclusion I can confidently draw from it: it doesn’t always hurt to know more. When you go to different places, you learn about culture, history, people in general. I find that this alters, or rather expands your horizons, kind of like reading a book. In saying so, I don’t even mean traveling outside your continent to learn a bit more; you’d find that it’s not just your perspective of the world that can alter as a result of exploration, but also self-perception because you learn more about yourself as you move from point a to b and meet all sorts of people. I said knowing more doesn’t always hurt, because you may find things you wish you never knew as a result of curiosity - but there’s always something to learn from it.

In terms of my first statement, the invention of the Internet is a result of the consequences of our innate endless inquisitiveness. It’s the coolest thing; an outlet right in front of you, an encyclopedia, dictionary, and thesaurus available to anyone fortunate enough to access the World Wide Web. One thing I want to point out though, is the dwindling number of people willing to look out and research certain topics as they feel safe in generalized or socially accepted assertions. For some reason, once you disagree with certain groups due to learning a little bit more, it becomes a matter of passive aggressiveness. I think this is dangerous for many reasons which I’ll get to some other time, but it’s important to remember that we all have curiosity, maybe not in the same ways or about the same things, but it’s a characteristic that I believe cannot be successfully suppressed. Even if we deprive ourselves from acting out of curiosity, curiosity will always be there, and no, exploring, and curiosity are not confined to just traveling.