Puzzle

In the movie, PUZZLE, the character, Robert says:

Life’s just random. Everything is… random:
my success, you here now,
your kids, your life… There’s nothing we can do
to control anything. And then it ends.
Painfully usually, full of regrets.
But when you complete a puzzle,
when you finish it, it’s like —
you know that you’ve made all the
right choices. No matter how many
wrong pieces you tried to fit into
the wrong place, at the very end
everything makes one perfect
picture. I know it sounds
simplistic but– Why would I ever
want to deny myself that kind of
feeling? What other pursuit can
give you that kind of perfection?
Faith? Ambition? Wealth? Love?

A couple weeks ago, we finished this puzzle at my mom’s house. Except for this missing a piece. We found the note saying a piece was missing before we’d spent much time looking for the piece, so I didn’t mind really. One thing I can say is, in the cases where I know I’ve really done the work that is within my power to do — I am able to let go of the outcome.

The struggle, then, is knowing when I’ve done all I could… because, can’t you always do more? A puzzle is a nice antidote to that line of thinking! — When all the pieces are in place, there is nothing more to do.

There is a world where, in the case of the above puzzle, to really do all I could, I might have created a piece to replace this missing piece. I might have traced the space to make a pattern, cut it from cardboard, painted it the right color… this is generally the way my mind works.

But something else to strive for in life is an awareness of when it doesn’t really matter. .

I think the hole is interesting, don’t you?