We had just finished dinner and my son was solving his Rubik’s Cube when all of a sudden we heard plastic hit the table and looked over to see that his cube had just exploded into pieces! As I’d collected the pieces into a bag, I wondered if I’d be able to successfully reassemble it.
Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube? I have, and I solved it once, when I was very young. My dad had a classic Rubik’s Cube which intrigued me. I’d also discovered that he had a book which held all of the secrets on how to solve it. After reading through the various sequences of twists, turns and rotations I’d eventually solved it. It took some work, but I’d done it! Then, not wanting to memorize all those sequences of moves, I put down the cube and lost interest in it.
My son, a “chip off the old cube,” seemingly following in my footsteps.
Roughly 30 years later, my son picked it up around the same time I did in life, seemingly following in my footsteps. Using a similar guide, he’d also solved the cube but took it a step further and memorized all those moves and sequences and can now consistently solve it in around 90 seconds! His current record is just under a minute. Certainly he’s going for speed now.
During his speed runs on the cube there had been a couple times where a piece had popped out and I had to pop it back in. We quickly discovered that you can’t just do that though. Did you know that it needs to be replaced in the correct position or else the cube will be unsolvable? Yup, I’ve had to pop that piece out again, rotate it and pop it back in to fix it.
This brings us back to the dinner table with my son’s broken Rubik’s cube. When it broke, the top slice and part of the middle slice had sprung apart, which meant that about half of the cube was separated from its core. Remember how I mentioned that it matters how the pieces are placed? That meant I couldn’t just pop them back in hoping for the best. In order to make sure it was solvable, I would have to take apart the rest of the cube, and rebuild it in the solved state with all the colors in place.
As I rebuilt it, I wondered if there might be some life lessons here. Really, how could there not be?
Critical Thinking
The Rubik’s Cube is a complex puzzle. It requires critical and creative thinking in order to correctly reassemble it. If you put it together wrong, it won’t work and you’d have to backtrack to try again. It could easily take hours or days of trial and error in order to get it back into its original state.
This teaches us to be creative and open-minded when faced with a problem. We must be willing to experiment and consider different methods before we decide on a solution to move forward with. Luckily, after considering the problem and possible solutions, I was able to reassemble it correctly in less than an hour.
Focus
Reassembling a broken Rubik's cube requires intense concentration and focus. We must focus on the task at hand and be mindful of our actions and thoughts. You have to take special care as you’re stacking the pieces not to bump or nudge any of the loose pieces out of alignment and sometimes you have to hold certain pieces in place as you try to fit another in.
This ultimately teaches us the skill of staying focused and not getting distracted by outside influences.
Patience & Perseverance
Finally, we need to be able to look at the situation calmly and objectively in order to formulate a plan of action. If I were to just pop in all the pieces without any plan, it surely would have been an unsolvable cube. That might be a nice gag gift for a cube expert, but my son wanted it back in a solvable condition. That’s why I had to tear it down in order to build it back up again.
Patience is also needed during the actual assembly process because it’s very easy for stacked pieces to fall out or get dislodged as you add in further pieces. It’s easy to get discouraged and give up as this happens.
It may seem like the task is impossible at times, but with dedication and perseverance, we can complete the puzzle and be rewarded with the satisfaction of a job well done. Overall, this teaches us to be patient and to persevere in the face of difficult challenges.
With these lessons in mind, we can face any challenge with confidence and determination.