Be Curious

As children we have a natural curiosity about everything, and we are not shy about asking questions – a lot of questions. Over time we lose that curiosity, maybe because we are more focused on learning specific things in school, or maybe because as we get older asking “too many” questions becomes a bad thing. By the time we are adults, many of us have lost the gift of curiosity. That’s a shame because curiosity spurs learning, growth, and discovery, all keys to a good life – and to making a difference in our world.

My curiosity was recently piqued in a conversation with a friend over lunch after a bike ride on the Empire State Trail (link to the trail site for the curious among you - https://empiretrail.ny.gov/) near her home in upstate NY. She asked me how I came up with topics for this blog and I told her it’s mainly just writing about what I see and experience. A few minutes later I remarked that her town and the adjacent town were huge. Being from NJ I’m used to towns that are a mile or two square but NY is not that way, at least in the more rural areas. She gave me some background on the towns, mentioned a village within their town, and told me the town that was on our ride was once the biggest in the nation. Pretty cool. That sparked questions by me regarding the difference between town, village and hamlet and my brain was off and running.

Figuring it was governmental structure that determined the label, I dove into the internet – knower of all things important, and trivial – when I got home. After a few obligatory funny cat videos, my search focused on NY state’s structure, and sure enough Wikipedia came to my aid. My assumption that administrative structure determined the label proved to be correct in this case as NY state is divided (hierarchically) into boroughs (only the 5 comprising NYC), counties, cities, townships called "towns", and villages. That explained how a town in NY could be the size of what’s called a township in NJ (which will have several towns within it). There are also hamlets within towns or villages that are enclaves which are not incorporated and have no government or local services. Except for its 10 Indian Reservations and the City of New York, every piece of land in the state is part of a city or town, which, with the exception of the city of Geneva, is part of only one county. For those of you who are curious, the counties containing Geneva* are listed at the end of this post.

That’s enough about what I found when I satisfied my curiosity by digging into the question at hand. The point here, besides to give you more than you probably wanted to know about NY state’s administrative hierarchy, is to remind you to stay curious (or reignite that flame within you) and keep learning. As we age, brain exercise becomes more and more important. Learning new things keeps our brains active and young, and it gives us more to talk about with friends, family, and at gatherings so we don’t just tell the same stories over and over (a hazard as we age). Be curious, ask questions, seek answers, and most importantly, keep learning and growing.

I am off next week as we are taking our nieces and nephew to the Lake George, NY area for our annual trip with them. Next post 8/1.

www.RetiredandInspiredat55.com 7-18-2022

*Geneva , NY is in both Ontario and Seneca counties