Puzzles

The subway system in New York City is both a masterpiece and a puzzle. I am amazed at how fast and efficient it can be and puzzled by the detours it creates when not all trains are running according to schedule.  

Last night, I waited at a stop for over twenty minutes while three trains came and went that were of no use to me. While waiting, a silver haired man, who I assumed to be a seasoned New Yorker given his thick Brooklyn accent, asked me if I was waiting for the train that had not come. When I told him I was, he said he had been waiting for over twenty minutes before I even made it to the station. After he made that statement, another train came. It wasn’t the right one, but I chose to take it to the next stop and wait there. He chose to stay at the original stop.

Once I got to the next stop I watched yet another train come and go that I didn’t need, then it dawned on me, there was another subway line at that stop that I could take to advance my trip and I could transfer to the train I needed later on in the commute. I kicked myself for not thinking of it before, but that's when I realized what a puzzle the subway system is and what a puzzle life can be.  

As soon as I got to the transfer stop, the train I needed was at the station with doors wide open to receive everyone that needed to transfer. When I got on the train I was greeted by the man who had been waiting at the original stop, he said, “The train came as soon as you left.” To which I replied, “If I hadn’t left, it wouldn’t have come.”

Everyday we are faced with puzzles that stump us. When they arise, we have two options, sit and wait until the solution comes, or choose to walk away, and solve another puzzle that will provide us with a newfound clarity. A clarity that will enable us to solve the initial puzzle.

Both the man and I ended up making it home on the same train, but we each chose different journey’s to get there. One of overt patience, the other of explored opportunities in the meantime.

The next time you are stumped by the puzzle of life, which path will you choose?