Article February 10, 1997 Issue

A perfect fit

Martha K. Strout

Our family has always loved working together on a jigsaw puzzle. It is fun to see what seem to be unrelated bits and pieces come together into a cohesive picture. Each piece is an important part of the whole. No piece can be made to fit into the wrong spot or be replaced by another, incorrect piece.

So it is with each of us. We each are individual and are loved by God as His spiritual creation. Humanly, we see such a variety of nationalities, religions, customs, histories, and backgrounds that sometimes it becomes a puzzle as to how we can all work together. When we classify and stereotype everyone into neat categories, there is a temptation to blame difficult problems such as unemployment, territorial and legal disputes, lack, or disease on certain groups of people. There is the temptation to see the individual pieces without seeing the whole picture. Sometimes it would appear that the only route to solving a problem would be to eliminate the group or individual blamed for creating it.

When we are working on a jigsaw puzzle and the pieces don't seem to fit, we don't just throw away those pieces. It is the variety of color, form, and individual shape that makes the puzzle interesting and challenging. In human relations, however, prejudice and bigotry arise when we just can't seem to see how the pieces fit. There doesn't always seem to be room for all these different nationalities and backgrounds!

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