Jigsaw Puzzle

A few days ago, our whole family played the game of Jigsaw puzzle. My younger one got a gift for her birthday- a 500 pieces jigsaw puzzle of the grand Burj Khalifa of Dubai. 

 

We lay the small 500 pieces of the grand building on the entire dining table. It took the entire weekend to complete. My preliminary and probably most boring of all the works was to segregate the pieces according to the colors, shades, shape of the alphabets, and overall design. We started to solve from two to three sides/ corners. Then got them together to make the bigger picture. It was pure fun! Everybody from my father-in-law to the youngest daughter played some part. As and when we finished our routine tasks, we would land up at the table, all engrossed in building the grand Burj Khalifa. 

 

This simple game taught me a few biggest lessons of life. 

 

·      If the vision of the goal is clear, it gives clarity and direction to the players. We all saw the goal in the box. So, all we had to do was contribute in small ways. 

·      Small portions of the design were first completed. Then they were joined to make the bigger picture. Every small step towards the end goal would count. It is something like the Japanese Kaizen- incremental improvements. 

·      The place of every individual piece was fixed. And the best part was that the pieces were a non-living thing, so they did not put anything called me or mine. Whenever the time of the appropriate piece would come, we would place it correctly to complete its purpose. Aren’t we the same? Sometimes as animate as the puzzle piece? We all have been sent for some purpose to do some role. The more me and mine we lose, the faster the creator will place us correctly to make the bigger picture. 

·      The 500 individual pieces taught that there is a way to co-exist. If we quarrel, for a prominent position or become greedy, the purpose of our life is lost and it would simply delay the reaching of our individual ultimate destination. Thus, all the diversities and differences in the world are not meant to fight. But to simply accommodate, accept and co-exist. 

 

 

Thus, if we as a species decide to have a clear vision, make small incremental improvements towards it, lose me and mine, and accommodate and co-exist, wouldn’t the world become a better place to live?