To all you writers, painters, and wannabe creatives.
Can you imagine being a piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle; a puzzle that has fallen to the floor, scattered to the wind, stepped on, kicked under the table, unable to find your place in the game we call life? Are you feeling useless, alone, your colors faded and unrecognizable, the clues of your identity lost, no longer a part of the whole? Or perhaps a piece of the puzzle that remained on the table, unable to rescue the fallen. Together, we painted a beautiful puzzle, we brought people together, we wore smiles, we loved and hugged one another. We fit, until we didn’t.
Or perhaps you feel like a Humpty Dumpty who once sat proudly on a wall, but had a great fall and couldn’t be put back together again. Has this happened to you, your friends or loved ones? Have you found or restored the puzzle pieces of your life? Do they now fit together or do some pieces remain warped, tattered or storm damaged?
Have we sat back and looked at the pieces and thought “poor things; they’ve fallen and can’t get up.” Have we come to their aid? Could we do more to help the broken, the tired, the lonely? Have we grown afraid to touch, to reach out unhindered to embrace others? Have we forgotten how to love unconditionally?
Picture puzzle pieces are inanimate objects and of necessity stand alone. We are humans and we are not helpless. We can swallow our pride and reach out and at least try to put our broken pieces back together instead of discarding them when there is a possibility of repair? We can smile again, hug each other, work together to restore unity instead of lying helpless on the floor. We may not succeed but recycling our damaged pieces is a worthwhile thing to try. The least we can do is be kind.
What if we were all blind and had to braille each other for recognition? Or a blade of grass and every Wednesday a big machine shaved off the top of our head? Do you wish you had been born beautiful (I hope you were)? Audrey Hepburn suggested the following: For beautiful eyes look for the good in others; beautiful lips – speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
What if no one played the piano unless promised a solo performance at Carnegie Hall? What if no one dared to study painting unless promised a showing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? What if no one wrote poetry unless promised the honor of becoming a poet laureate? What if no one studied medicine without the guarantee of a senior position of Chief of Staff at a major hospital? What if no one volunteered to be a policeman or Homeland Security agent to keep us safe from illegal drugs and human smugglers of women and children. What if no one was willing to become a soldier and put his/her life on the line to protect our country in case of war or other disasters?
The list has no end. What if no one, including you, dared to write a book because of the real possibility of never finding a publisher or an agent? We do what we do because we love and cherish life and the world we occupy. We heavily laminate ourselves to remain a stable piece of life’s puzzle that is afforded to us, and refuse to become that one crucial lost piece. We dare and we do, and yet we know not why. Do we want to be a part of the problem or a part of the solution?
Spoken and written words are powerful and irretrievable. That’s why I prefer to write and that is why I paint. You can do the same for a life of fulfillment and accomplishment.
If you liked this essay, please leave a comment.
Marie