I'm a Jigsaw Puzzle.

I hate to give the punch line in the title of the blog, but I know that the majority of those who read my blog mostly look at the titles and then move on. This lets them say they looked at my blog without actually taking any time to ingest the information. So, for those that read only the first paragraph, I say: “I am a jigsaw puzzle!” Don’t you wish that you were all like me, an intense gathering of bits and pieces that can’t be examined too closely separately unless you are thinking about the big picture. I’m sure that many of you are thinking that I can not have license to this typography of myself, and so I’ll just go ahead and say it, we’re all jigsaw puzzles!

First off, each one of us has characteristics that don’t really seem to fit one with another. For instance, I, Major Bubbles, enjoy music. I am appeased by the soothing quality of calmed classical, enthralled by jazz, and invigorated by the upbeat style of music. I revel in the different mediums of music, from voice to brass to string instrument, and even percussion. I love music! And I love boxing. Do those things fit together in your mind? It’s like when you try to put two pieces unsuited for each other together. You smash it down, wedging the projecting parts of the piece into the holes of the other, until it will not move. It may not be a good match, but when you’re two it doesn’t really matter. The nice thing about puzzles and people, though, is that all the pieces really do fit, you just to have to find where. For instance, my love for music creates a passion in me, a passion that often results in physical energy. I love doing things, love being active. Boxing is one of the most physically draining things of my experience. Boxing then does fit, only with a different piece of the puzzle. I’m a jigsaw puzzle!

I know that I’m not the only one who has this misfit pieces. One friend in particular is a constant puzzle to me. Because I think the world of this friend, I will refrain from using even the pseudo name of the person. This person is a very good person, and honest almost to a fault. I had understood that this person was involved in a prestigious performing group, but when this person was offered a chance to sing for a small group (mostly for our pleasure), backed down, claiming inadequacy. I know for a fact that this person is better than she/he said, but he/she still would not sing. I felt like it was a deception on the part of the person, and it didn’t really fit with what I thought of the honesty of said party. This probably reveals more of my psyche than I want to, but I digress. These were two pieces that, for me, didn’t fit. Most everyone reading this will have said by now “well, the person to whom he refers maybe easily embarrassed.” That’s a good point, and it took me awhile to come to it, sadly enough. Here’s the proof, though, that the two pieces that were incongruous are really attached to different pieces, but altogether make up a beautiful person, one that I especially enjoy knowing. Said person is a jigsaw puzzle.

The interesting thing about people is that our jigsaw puzzle ends up looking like one giant puzzle piece. I don’t think that we really end up looking like some perfect rectangle, like the popular puzzles that we put together. Rather, each and every one of us has nooks and crannies that lend interest, and make us more like a complex puzzle piece.

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to be a puzzle piece? There are a great variety of puzzle pieces. If we pick one up, lets say a flashy orange one, and try to put it next to a brown one, it might cry out “not there! Anywhere but there! Those brown pieces are so drab, all they do is sit around and talk about the basic blocks of puzzles. Please, not there.” Maybe you’d get to know a cool green puzzle piece that would say “It doesn’t matter where you put me, I’ll lend an air of calmness. Just don’t bury me in a sea of reds, they’re so agitated.” Perhaps you’ll find a place for a happy yellow piece “put me there, I’ll love it!” Either way, each puzzle lends a different color, variety and splashes of shades, making the puzzle beautiful and pleasing.

Are we all that different?

The problem is when we feel like we don’t fit where we got put. I know I’ve felt like that before. Can you imagine the discomfort of a puzzle piece being jammed where it doesn’t belong? The only problem is that we as humans aren’t as willing to be put as puzzle pieces are. We have the tendency not to accept where we’re put. Oh well, I’m sure that we’ll figure it out someday.

If I do something you don’t understand, though, just realize that I’m a puzzle! You’re just looking at the pieces, and you don’t see the whole thing yet. I’m pretty sure that if you could see the whole thing, you might just end up loving me.

Maybe it’s a good thing you can’t see the whole me.