The Puzzle

The child woke up one morning in a different world.  Everything was new and strange.  She could not understand the sounds the big people were making, or what those sounds meant.  She knew how she felt:  surprised, shocked and scared.  And hungry.  Above all, hungry.  She was uncomfortable in these cloths that irritated her bottom.  Why did people not understand her when she cried?  She cried for many reasons:  hunger, loneliness, fear, discomfort, or because she was tired.   

She began to understand some of the sounds the big people were making. She learned to respond, and make sounds of her own.  And soon, she learned to move around without waiting for someone else to pick her up. 

She tried to learn and explore the world around her, but the big people got in her way.  They didn’t understand her need to learn and grow.  They viewed her with annoyance and placed her in a prison, meant to confine her for their convenience. 

As she grew, the child began to realize that there was more to her life than the big people would be able to show her, or even to understand.  But within her soul, something that was still alive reached out for something more – to know, to do, to understand. 

This was the puzzle she had been given:  to take the many pieces of her life, and attempt to fit them together.  Sometimes nothing seemed to work, or to fit.  Other times, after many years of mistakes and struggle, one small piece would fall into place. She continued to learn and fight to grow.  She reached out to others in her quest.  Sometimes they abused her.  Sometimes they punished her for wanting to know more than they could understand.  But once in a great while, she would find a kindred soul who understood her, and then she knew she was on the right path. 

As she looked around and realized that those who did not understand rejected her because of their ignorance and fear, she also longed to help others who were struggling to fit their puzzle pieces together.  She learned, after many attempts to help others prevent failures and suffering, that no one can help another with the unique puzzles we are all given.  She realized that the puzzle only fits after many failed attempts, and the value is often in proportion to how many failed attempts are made before a piece finally fits. 

The child learned, as she became a big person, that she was given a puzzle to solve, and that had she been given a puzzle already pieced together, she would have learned nothing.