A RUBIK'S CUBE

  Could not get back to sleep, and as I lay there, staring at the ceiling - so nice since we got rid of that 'popcorn', for some strange never to be known reason, thoughts of a Rubik's Cube arose. Now I never have been good at puzzles like that. They bored me. They were useless, for after you solved it, learned the trick to do so what then? Nothing, just a silly twirling of the sides and repeat.

From time immemorial I have guided my life with goals in mind. Whatever I did had to have a purpose, one that moved me forward, be it in comprehension of situations, or understanding of human relations, or expansion of horizons via books. But think not that amusement and sheer fun were off the menu. Not at all, for those apparently aimless moments added to the joie de vivre of life.

Now I mused about that darned cube. Life is like that cube except there is no 'answer' or 'trick' to the Rubik's Cube of life. Most of us spin the sides throughout our lifetime. Each time we feel there is a wonderful balance ....Boom! Something comes along and upsets it, renders the solution and plan we thought we had, in balance and surety, no more. We had to spin again and again, find a new balance or semblance of one, ease into it, ahhhh... and Boom! Kept us hopping, for sure, added zest to life along with a sense of accomplishment when a seemingly unsolvable Cube suddenly fell into place - at least for a while, for times of differing durations.

Most of us fell into a routine that allowed us peace in life, at least knowing the situation, as best one can know. That is why, I believe, that the COVID pandemic and shutdown, the continuing narrowed choices for the walls of our Cubes, upset the balance of many. Suddenly the game changed. Suddenly the possibilities to shape, to solve were limited, beyond our powers, beyond anything most of us could do other than do the best we could in a strange new Rubik's Cube of Life.

Lockdown. In confined quarters, alone with those dear kids, or that wife or husband of 'x' amount of years and our solutions no longer worked. Patience wore thin, sudden strangers stared at each other, conversation became stilted and limited. The eyes ran circles in their sockets as the head they were in sought rescue. All the while that answer was there. The many new solutions possible were right there, if only one could open eyes and minds and see them. Feel them.

The answer was to open up, go off road, think out of the box, challenge oneself with once otherwise ridiculous challenges. Surprise, surprise, for many  newly discovered worlds became favorite sites on that Rubik's Cube. Even better was when there was no problem with the confinement, and the newly introduced little blocks on the larger block of the Cube added zest, interests, challenges taken on and mastered, moving on and up those new colors attached to the new Cube. 

No easy twist of a wrist, rather an entirely different approach to life. Think how much better it was when the confinement partners never had a problem in the first place. What happened then was that the new insertions drew them together even more. Laughter, shared love and experiences, pride in accomplishment - good replacements for some of the faded colors of the Cube.

Think not that the Cube philosophy remains confined to the home. It does not. Most manifestly not, particularly in our times. People's Cubes have become misshapen, unable to be fixed, or the fix was being avoided. There was too much something or other on the  Cube that enticed their owners and operators. Bad juju, as they say.

And the answer is....asks the emcee .....and silence reigns. Or a happy shout, a modern day eureka! is heard. Those open to modifying their Rubik's Cube will hear, think, and do. Those not open, well, they become the bane of our lives, to varying degrees. That bane, those multiple bands, need restructuring, replacement in proper order on a newly renovated Cube. New solutions with no tricks engendered. It can be done. It has been done already. We can continue to do so. With one caveat - that we do the restructuring with care, with respect, with understanding of how these banes grew into existence and how they are part and parcel, like it or not, of our Rubik's Cube. Hence the need for care. Hence the need for repair. Hence the need for all to allow themselves new growth, new colors, refurbishment of a proper, refreshing kind.

It can be done. If only we all do so, join in. No, not that impossible dream that the Man of La Manche sings, but perhaps our own possible dream, a little one with big end results, ends that lead to new beginnings. Let us dream on.