Essays Contents
Puzzles
January 1, 2023
I like to work out puzzles.
I grew up working all sorts of puzzles...
jigsaw puzzles... with those pictures of country scenes...
word search puzzles in a grid of single letters of the alphabet
that can be aligned forwards, backwards, or diagonally...
spelling puzzles where... something like Scrabble...
you find words that can be formed from another larger word,
for instance "Christmas Day" or "Happy Birthday"
or someone's name.
And now, I have discovered Sudoku puzzles.
Sudoku is a 9 x 9 square grid that must contain the numbers 1 thru 9...
in each column, in each row, and also in each 3 by 3 number square of the
9 square grid. The game gives several numbers as clues. The easier puzzles
give more numbers... the harder puzzles, give fewer numbers. Depending on
the publisher/designer... there will always be just enough clues to complete
the grid. Some grids by some publishers are... junk... and can never be
solved without "cheating"... meaning that... one must look at the back of the
book where the answers are... in order to solve the puzzle.
So... there are some puzzle books that are better than others. But even in the
well-designed puzzle books there are always a few puzzles
that just cannot be solved without "cheating." For those occasional puzzles
I have made a rule for myself. It is... I must choose the row, column, or square
with the fewest missing numbers that will give the best clue to enable the
completion of the entire grid.
When I look at the cheat sheet, I look only at those 2 or 3 missing numbers
from the row I have chosen... and no others.
However... before I EVER do that... before I EVER cheat...
I must have eliminated all possible methods of solving the puzzle.
For instance... if a row is missing three numbers... I gather those three
and see if two of them can be eliminated in the column or square...
because the numbers cannot be repeated in three aspects of the puzzle.
I work rows... then columns... then squares... in this method of elimination.
This must be thoroughly worked through... by my rule. Many times
there is one silly number... the ONLY findable number... that will
break the blockade. Once that number is found, the rest of the puzzle can
begin to fill up. If I can't find that clue number... I leave the puzzle unfinished,
to try again later.
It is a grand challenge to avoid cheating.
If I can eventually find that mystery number... I consider it a happy success.
I don't think of it as a "relieved hardship" but rather a "sense of joy" because...
with hard work and patience... I found that dang number I needed...
and did not give it up... to "cheat."
While working Sudoku puzzles today, I was also gathering my thoughts on
an essay that I had in mind... about... vengeance. I had been doing some
deep thinking about the crazy times that we are living in... and yet,
I could not ignore how
there has been a sense of injustice in America for a very long time. These
grievances now... are just the revelation of what a person might have
already noticed was occurring... for many decades. These grievances
tend to make us all believe that our entire system is a failure... and that
we now need a NEW WORLD ORDER to fix it.
Then, it seemed to me that this, too... is a puzzle.
How do we resolve the clashing of cultures that we find ourselves in?
How do we ensure that our representatives make wise decisions?
How do we find justice in an overwhelmed nation of millions of people?
At what point does the system of justice in a civilized society fail to offer
a method of resolution? If there are no avenues of resolution... at what point
are human beings apt to seek their own justice... and their own vengeance.
If an injustice or a wrong is committed against a person... that person needs
to heal that injury... that harm. Society can provide various methods of
resolving such things... from private negotiations... to lawsuits in court...
to filing a criminal complaint against the aggressor. The problem is that...
the system is overwhelmed... and those who were in charge... and those
who ARE in charge... of ensuring that our system is maintained and is
working well for the citizens... have neglected to do so.
But... surely attempts are made to deal with such problems... and it just
may well be that the system itself has become so large and unwieldy
that it becomes VERY difficult to maintain and to even FIND solutions.
In large communities of people you just can't possibly please everyone.
If there are general societal grievances, larger communities are compelled
to tolerate the unhealthy and even sociopathic practices of some people...
forcing more meek and non-agressive citizens to live in environments
that they consider quite unhealthy for themselves and their children.
Our communites are just too, too large to find answers... because what may
work as a solution for one group or culture... is strange and fearful to another.
And we need our groups. We need a sense of belonging in... and participating in...
a group and a community. We need to feel safe in our homes and our larger
neighborhoods. It isn't color... or race... or religion... that makes any of us
fearful of each other... it is the culture we want to LIVE in. It is the culture that
we want to be embraced by... and to participate in... that will resolve many
of our societal problems.
Surely this is the original concept of the formation of our country... that we
live in communities of "like" people... or people who have similar cultures and
living standards... and thus... when a crime is committed... according to the
laws that were made by that community... the accused person is judged by
a group of people who are familiar with that same culture. If those people
on a jury can all say... "yea, this guy is guilty of a bad thing"... if they can
all agree that what happened was a crime... then everyone and all...
perpetrator and jury alike... can resolve their hearts... that justice is done.
It is about community standards... and being able to decide for one's self
how one lives... and lives in happiness. The freaks can have their own
communities... and make their own rules... if the rules are constitutionally
sound, that is... and they, too, can live in peace and happiness. It is when
the cultures are forced to mix that our sense of uneasiness and fear begins
to rule our lives. It is when people are forced to live by the standards of
another culture and differing lifestyles that much misery is born.
To resolve this puzzle... maybe we should consider creating smaller communities
that are represented by a "real representative" in our larger communities.
A "voting district" or community that has defined parameters can act as its
own local government... making its own rules... holding its own courts.
For this to work, these communities would have "ratings" that they adopt...
similar to the film industry ratings... G... PG... PG-13... R... X... and all
entries to that community are marked with warnings... like street signs.
Thus, if you are passing through a G-rated community, you had better keep
your loud music to a minimum and dress appropriately if you leave your
car.
If such ratings are standardized... it becomes easier for everyone to abide by
the rules. Without these smaller community-size standards... we force each
other to live by SOMEONE ELSE'S rules. And from then on... the sense of
injustice will pervade the whole of society. Unresolved injustices will
perpetrate larger ones... even violence.
When people feel that they have a safe home...
where the SWAT team doesn't attack in the middle of the night
looking for a bag of marijuana...
where the neighbors can have a party without disturbing someone...
or...
where an elderly couple can sit together in a park on a nice day...
where the school reflects the values of the parents...
where the bars close at midnight...
everyone will be so much happier...
and no one will want to screw THAT up.
