We should all create, tap into our curiosity. We need it.

Let’s start where we see our casual acquaintances. We see them in the neighborhood, walking their dogs. We see them at work. We chat with them at our kids’ baseball games.

And then one day, we learn new things about them. Cool and interesting things that surprise us. We learn about their curious interests, their rabid obsessions, their crazy creativity. And we decide we like it about them.

Maybe it was the pandemic. In isolation, we went crazy. We needed an outlet. So, we picked up our pens and started drawing, or we decided to get on our bike and photograph all the murals in Oklahoma City, or we felt compelled to dive deep into old jazz, carpentry or Byzantine literature.

We needed it because, well, we needed something.

And then we decided to share it. We posted it, like in the early days of social media, before everyone was arguing. And lo and behold, people loved it. Maybe not a ton, but enough to realize there’s a small audience that finds joy in our weird little distractions.

Recently, I learned that my neighbor, David Dobson, an attorney — someone I’ve clicked with through the music playlists I post — is the co-creator of a beautifully weird podcast called Alligator Farm. It’s a mix of eclectic music, bizarre sketches, improvisation and audio stuff. it’s somewhere between Dr. Demento, early Pink Floyd and Park Grubbs (if you know, you know), from the great tradition of do-it-yourself programming.

David and his friends Darren Dunn, Mike Waugh, and Pete Young started the show “mostly for fun,” David told me. “Sophomoric and absurd, times 10. It’s definitely an acquired taste.”

Maybe. But he found an audience. A low-powered radio station in Taos, New Mexico discovered it and broadcast it in the middle of the night – a fact that amuses David to no end.

It may just be in my orbit, but it seems to happen often. People express themselves in the most wonderfully surprising ways.

During the pandemic, our friend Shannon Lockwood decided to arrange – and demonstrate, online – “Peace Train” and “Uncle John’s Band” on the marimba. Lori Black, co-owner of Evoke Coffee in Edmond, took up painting – an interest she had been playing with for years. She thrives and says it’s great therapy. My wife, Lauren, an artist, discovered her love of horseback riding. A business partner of mine, Aaron Fulkerson, wrote and recorded an album. Chris Griswold, lawyer, has written children’s books. Joel Everett, an old friend from Muskogee, painted a guitar for a fundraiser for veterans. A business acquaintance in Sioux City, Iowa, went headlong into cake decorating. Friends drop ingredients on her porch and she gets busy. It’s professional caliber work, and so satisfying to see the reviews online.

It serves as a reminder to act on our instincts for creation and discovery; to tap into our curiosity, fill our souls – and share it with others. They need it. Maybe we all do.