Growing up, I loved putting puzzles together. It started with gigantic puzzle pieces as a toddler where I learned about shapes and animals. I then graduated to more complex ones that involved 500 or 1000+ pieces. For a time, I really got into 3D puzzles and built a human head and Graceland Mansion. This pastime then transitioned to modeling. I would go to the local Hobby Lobby and look at all the different models that were available and typically landed on vintage cars that I thought looked really cool. With each new puzzle, I jumped in with enthusiasm because I was motivated by seeing the end product of my work and the patience that was involved in making sure that it was done correctly. While I took a break from this passion in early adulthood, I was re-energized when my son became a fan of Lego models and he asked me to help him with some of his projects. My passion came flooding back as if I had never taken a break in the first place. I began to sort my pieces and map out the process of how I was going to complete the task and then I jumped in. I guess old habits die hard.
This past year has been quite a puzzle if you really think about it. It was right around this time last year that we were introduced to COVID-19 as a puzzle that we needed to figure out how to put together. This virus has invaded our lexicon and is uttered countless times on a daily basis in all walks of life and in all professions. In the educational world, we have been inundated with words like synchronous, asynchronous, pivot, quarantine, social distancing, masks, vaccine, and a host of other puzzle pieces that we have been given with the explicit task of putting them together. The problem is, the pieces we have been given are from a puzzle that we bought at a garage sale for 50 cents. As we unboxed the pieces and looked for the edge and corner pieces to frame our puzzle, we found out that they aren't all there and we have been left with the feeling that we were scammed because we will never get to enjoy the beauty and satisfaction of the completed puzzle. Instead, we are left with a bunch of puzzle pieces that don't connect with one another, and in some cases, don't even belong to the puzzle altogether.
Fortunately, there is an upside to a puzzle that doesn't contain all the pieces or has pieces from another puzzle included with it. Some might argue that this is "silver lining" thinking and runs counter to my belief that we should just "embrace the suck," but I would ask that you stick with me on this one and open your eyes to another possibility. What if we just struggled with the puzzle pieces we were given and committed ourselves to re-framing our approach and putting together something beautiful among the mess of pieces we have. My father-in-law once told me that "close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades," but in this particular case, I want to argue that close is good enough. Sometimes the pieces won't fit exactly as they should, but making an attempt to put them together in spite of this, actually serves a really good purpose. We are modeling grit and perseverance by embracing the suck and completing what we started, even if it means that it won't turn out exactly as we planned.
Ultimately, we have all been left with a deep sense of dissatisfaction because we have been handed a puzzle that doesn't contain all the pieces and each day we are given a new piece that may or may not be relevant to our specific puzzle. We curse those that are handing out the pieces to us and we lament over the process because it is not following our normal mode of operation. We just want to box up the puzzle and throw it out because we can't stand looking at it anymore, but we can't because completing the puzzle is the only way that we are going to move forward. The choice we have to make is whether we are just going to throw our hands up in the air and give up or if we are going to commit to making a masterpiece out of what we have been given. The easy choice is to give up and blame the puzzle maker for being incompetent and not knowing how to create a workable puzzle. The hard choice is putting the puzzle together in spite of the puzzle maker and getting the satisfaction of creating something that is unique and something we can have a deep sense of ownership in. You get to choose, but choose wisely.
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