Sketches

Any job well done starts with a goal, and a question: how can I reach that goal?  Defeatists might suggest removing the "how" but making it a question of "can" or "can't" essentially answers the question as it is asked.

We look at the box and then the heap of pieces; look at the scene before us and then the blank canvas; the music and then the keys and synapses fire at a million miles an hour, faster than we can possibly detect to figure out how we'll put together the puzzle, paint the picture or play the prelude.  The process is a matter of care, of patience, of practice and muscle memory as we build, as we create.

Perhaps we'll finish and realize that we're short of the goal we set out for, but even then, it's a question of "how" and not "can", and we must learn from the job we've done and acknowledge that no task given our full effort and attention can be called a complete waste.

When we return to the drawing board or sit on the piano bench, we find ourselves stronger, quicker and the goal closer, clearer.  Little do we realize that the goal we strive for is greater than the puzzle box, the dazzling sunset or the complex sheets of music; and too often we forget that grace remains when our efforts come up short.  Still, we strive, for to strive is to be human.