Chapter 86: Compatibility

do children ever play with jigsaw puzzles anymore? from what i can tell, the term "jigsaw" only refers to that creepy man in that mask in those saw slasher movies... which i clearly saw (not). when i was younger, i had this huge kite puzzle that depicted children in a field playing with multicolored kites while their parents watched on, fairly generic. every time i opened that damn box to put it together again, three pieces would always inexplicably go missing. it didn't matter how careful i was to count the pieces or only take out the sky blue ones to start with or how i even put down a white sheet to "play" on just so i could see the pieces more clearly.

i became so desperate at one point that i took the side pieces and tried to cut them into the lost middle ones. it never worked, and in the end, i had a completely disjointed puzzle made up of extremely rough edges and random, rustic pieces strewn throughout. at the age of 10, this constitutes as a massacre of sorts. eventually, the puzzle was thrown away.

i would later learn that adults, with all their worldliness and wisdom, would have this same habit of mine of trying to take something that doesn't quite fit and attempting to force it into place. but substitute people for puzzle pieces.

it's shocking how many relationships i see in this world where the people involved simply are not compatible. this is certainly not limited to love relationships, either. it's shocking how many people are not willing to admit that they just don't mesh with another person. it's almost as if it's a mark of their entire purpose in life if they can't quite work well with another person. rather, they would prefer to subject themselves to awkward situations to either avoid admitting defeat or simply to not let the other person go.

the best way i know to combat this situation in my own life is to know the kind of piece that i am. by fully knowing and accepting my dips and curves and irregularities, i'll know the complementary piece who should fit along next to me, whether that's a person or a job or any other situation in life. and until then, i will no longer attempt to cut corners just to make things fit.