Since childhood I have been a “glass half full” or even a “let me get you a cleaner glass” type of person. During the Locke vs Rousseau debates in high school, I always sided on the “man is naturally good” view of the world. In our house, 3 out of 4 of us are optimists, so it’s always interesting to hear from the pessimist in the room. In fact, only the pessimist of our family is anti-jigsaw puzzle so I am going to make a sweeping generalization that only optimists like to do puzzles.
I can think of few things that test this hypothesis more than buying open-box jig saw puzzles from your local thrift store. When buying a 1000 piece puzzle, I suppose one could, remove the tape and count out the pieces before buying the puzzle. One might if one had unlimited time and no actual duties or responsibilities. Or, one could take a leap of faith, trust in the good of our fellow man and plunge headlong into assembling a puzzle of questionable origin. Our family pessimist rolls his or her eyes as soon as the puzzle with the tell-tale grease pen price marking is set forth upon our coffee table. You can hear the pessimist practicing his or her, “I told you so.”
Does buying open-box puzzles from Goodwill make you an optimist or fatalist?
As we learn in school, the altruism gene allows animals to make sacrifices of themselves in order that others of their species will survive, prosper and procreate, thus helping then entire species. When I donate or re-donate my puzzles, I try to ensure they are a complete puzzle and have found that my fellow puzzle people do the same, Thus, the hypothesis is proven, we are free to be fruitful and perhaps multiply.
Life is like an open box puzzle, you never know if you are actually going to have all of the pieces. Even when we don’t have all of the pieces, the process is the fun, not the finished work. Because in life, the finished work is pretty much the end. I like to think of returning my puzzles to the thrift store from whence they came as a sort of reincarnation. A rebirth, a new chance for someone else to participate in the process.
The only puzzle that is impossible to finish is the one you never start.
