I can still “see myself” sitting in a stuffed chair in my tiny bedroom. My folks had the big bedroom and my grandma had the other large one.
I was probably only four or five. This was way before Velcro. ( In fact, Velcro was a word in our crossword puzzle today. ) So in order to hold shoes on kiddy feet, shoestrings were used. And like any good strings, they knew their job was to become a tangle of knots to fascinate a child like myself.
I just loved to curl up in that soft friendly chair. I look down at my shoes and find my fingers and eyes invited into the puzzle below.
At the time, I was way too young to ponder why I loved this activity. But now over 70 years later, I have no problem answering the why.
I seem to have been born with a desire to solve dilemmas, enigmas and such. Taking great pleasure in attempting to solve the unsolvable.
So of course I am well aware of The Gordian Knot and Alexander The Great. Of Alexander solving the puzzlement by destroying It.
To solve it, he had to kill it.
He used his sword to cut all entangled strands into pieces. I’m reminded of Humpty Dumpty and all the king’s men unable to put him back together again.
Now this is only a story. So I have no idea if it is true of The Great Alexander. But this gives a window into me. The deeper me.
I close with a suggestion. Go to YouTube and put in The King and I and Yul Brynner singing the song "It’s a puzzlement."
A song I heard when I was young watching the movie The King and I. One of my favorites.
How I see our world. A Puzzlement.
Pink Eagle (Annie Olson)