I slept for a couple days straight… I think. Then I started to get cabin fever… even trips to the medicine cabinet was a welcome field trip from the mundane. Finally when I had all the “rest” I could handle, I found myself with my lap top engaging on one of my favorite time-wasters… hidden clue puzzles. If you have never enjoyed one of these just imagine “Where’s Waldo” meets "Sandford and Son." These talented designers send you from room to room looking for hidden clues such as hockey pucks, bottle caps, calculators, vintage lamps and fake teeth buried in a sea of hundreds of items in any given location. Now these clues may be hidden any where in the room including buried in the wallpaper, may be in the form of a word in sign or various shapes. I have convinced myself that doing these puzzles will keep my brain sharp thus justifying the time I could be doing something more productive for society.
As I was working my puzzle over the morning coffee I asked myself the question… why don’t I approach “humans” the same way I do these puzzles? At first glance some folks may look like a nuclear attack on Fred Sanford’s garage, but upon deeper inspection there are always gems hidden just below the surface. You may have to look past the snakes and spiders buried in the rubble but if you take the time you can usually find wonderful treasures in all of us.
In some of these silly puzzles I waste time analyzing the deep hidden images only to step back and find the clue as obvious as the nose on my face. All the time I wasted attempting to scan every sector of the wallpaper leaves me frustrated and clueless. In turn, at times we need to take people at face value and not read all the small nuances into their behavior at any given moment.
I am the world’s worst at making excuses for people. For instance before I was banished from my office I had a couple of really nasty parent encounters. One issue was for some unknown reason a young man decided he wanted to make a bong instead of a vase in his art class. I picked up the phone to advise his father that I had given him a Saturday School only to hear his father making excuses for his son. At first my mind was startled and attempted to make excuses for this Dad’s “stupid” behavior. Truth is… when I stepped back and looked at the situation, the clue was hidden in the fact Dad simply doesn’t have “a clue”!!! I immediately told him it was difficult for me to believe that I was having this conversation with a parent and I hoped he would speak to his son about such behavior.
Any of us that routinely work with people are in the business of hunting clues. How can I help this person based upon the clues they have revealed to us? I am a firm believer that all people have some redeeming qualities… it is humanity’s job to find the treasures and help that individual develop into the best they can be in this crazy world. The question is do we ( I ) take the time to help them find these clues or do we dismiss them as simply another lost cause?
