Are We Puzzle Pieces or A Bunch of Petals?

Written by Andi Nur Jawhara Faiqa (5E)

One of the biggest mysteries of life is one that is virtually the closest to us – who we really are?

One might draw similarities between ourselves as a person to a puzzle: one must put it together, find the right pieces that would fit,
until an image is revealed in the end. It implies mystery, magic, enigma – it requires patience, work, diligence.

It comes together piece by piece, one part completing the other, fitting perfectly – making it all make sense in the end.

But as we grow, we might find that who we once were is no longer in the picture – we grow tired, even sometimes frustrated,
that pieces of who we are now long gone. We must eventually face the fact that we grow old.

One can draw similarities between that to a flower: its bunch of petals falling off, waning away bit by bit, one whole piece starting
to fall apart. Losing half of this and chunks of that – to complete nothingness in the end. They imply tenderness, fragility, softness
– it requires protection, nourishment, surrender.

I have come to the conclusion that, perhaps, we are a puzzle when we grow up, then become a bunch of petals as we grow old.

We piece together the puzzle – and we must be ready if one petal comes loose long before the picture is revealed. Hell, the picture
might not be revealed at all when the last petal drops. But isn’t it consolation enough that we have been a whole flower to begin
with?

The thing is, with the puzzle, we feel the need to seek out the truth, discover the real us, see it for ourselves. We might want to
figure out what it all really means in the end. We might long for the explanation of why things went the way they did, why we
became the people that we are.

But the flower petals – it’s been there all along, we sometimes overlooked it. Would it have turned out differently if we stopped
hunting for the puzzle pieces and instead focus on tending to our petals?

Have you ever met someone who seems as if they have known you for a long time, even better than yourself? They have seen our
flower petals long before we could, and we might see proof of it from the way they compliment our colour, or the intricate
delicacies of our patterns and textures that we have never thought of, let alone realised before.

Meanwhile, we busy ourselves by building and building and putting together the puzzle – trying to solve the mystery.

If we let them in, maybe they could help us solve it. They could help us see our petals as we put our puzzle pieces together.

Nobody knows us but ourselves – that might be true, but how much of our knowing is completely reliable? Would the mysteries
of us fade away once the puzzle is complete? How do we know if we have the full picture already? When will that be?

Maybe a more forgiving picture would be that of a flowing river. Heraclitus once said:

“No man ever steps in the same river twice. For it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

Who we really are might be a river that flows calmly, from the headwaters to the sea, carrying within it all that it had flown through
– never the same, but entirely what it had always been.

Afterall, how can we stay the same, when everything around us changes constantly?

We might never see the end where all of our puzzle pieces fit perfectly together, and we might never be able to keep our flower
petals completely intact forever. But, we can show ourselves grace by allowing ourselves to enjoy the process of change, and
recognize our true selves along our journey – be it to a waterfall, a lake, or ultimately, the ocean.