From The Storyteller
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Puzzle
“I think a great Idea for a 1000-piece puzzle is to tell on the box that one piece is missing”, me after finishing the puzzle we’re working on. I figure the real challenge would be finding out which one is missing. The look from Elaine clearly communicates her failure to appreciate my suggestion. Not one to let a good idea go to waste, I naturally began thinking about all the different ways we discover things. I began with our five senses - taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight - acknowledging that within each of these five there’s an infinite number of variations. Take for example sight and color combinations. I started school with the basic 8 color Crayola box, and by the 3rd grade had moved up to the 16. By the 5th grade I felt I was ready for the killer 64 color set (which never happened), and now, years later, the “Ultimate” set is 152. I’ve found the best answer to the question, “How many different shades of green are there?” is “many”. I could add taste to my crayon experience, because of my early years with my box of 8, but they all tasted the same to me. Touch and melted crayons come to mind, as does the smell of that new 16 box set I got in the 3rd grade. Having never tried to insert a crayon into my ear, or tried to listen to one, I would need to leave the sense of “crayon hearing” to others. Which leads me to wonder how many things are out there waiting for me to discover. Using my sense of taste as an example, I know there are literally thousands of variations in wine, pizza, tacos, and pastries I’ve yet to experience. Life is so complicated. Moral: So many opportunities so little time. |