The Bigger Picture...

Twice a week, I walk past this table in Bessey Hall on my way to and from teaching my TE 150 class. Each time, I notice a bit more of the puzzle is completed. I've stopped a couple of times for a few minutes but was never able to find a piece that fit. Today there was a guy sitting in the chair working on it when I arrived. I was surprised to actually see the work being done and know that it wasn't mysteriously constructing itself. Real people were giving of themselves what they could to improve the overall picture. So when I left class, I decided to give it another try and I found two pieces that fit. As I put them in place, this satisfying feeling overcame me...a feeling that I'd never felt when doing a puzzle on my own or with my children. Frankly, it shocked me. I had just felt like I had contributed something positively to this community of strangers working to make a more complete and unified picture. It was exhilarating!

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It then dawned on me...what if some idiot walks by and thinks it is funny to destroy the work that has been done and starts removing pieces?! But then I realized 3 things. 1) No one has done that in all this time which means there just might be more good people out there ready to work on putting things together (or just standing idly by) than there are people ready to destroy. 2) We could finish the puzzle faster if we figure out how engage those idle/indifferent folks. 3) If someone did destroy it, the rebuilding would probably begin again almost immediately because #spartanswill. On the eve of the inauguration of DJT, my soul needed to be reminded of these things.