Puzzle To Open The Door
Once upon a time, there lived a mighty king who was growing very old. Since he didn’t have any children, he worried about who the future heir of the kingdom would be. He decided to hand the reins over to a qualified youth. He conducted a merit test to choose his successor. For the test, he built a magnificent palace with a puzzle written on the main door. It was announced that all the youth of the kingdom are invited to solve the puzzle and open the door of the palace. The one who opens the door will be given that palace as a gift and will become heir to the kingdom. From morning until evening, young men came to try to solve the puzzle written on the door, but no one could solve it. Many intelligent young people came from other lands, but one by one they went away in failure. In the end, only 3 people were left; 2 from another kingdom and the 3rd was a simple young man from the kingdom’s village. While the young men from another kingdom tried to solve the puzzle, the young man from the village was standing in the corner watching them. The king asked, why are you not trying to solve the puzzle? The man said, “ I have come to watch the most intelligent people find the solution and become heir to the kingdom. What could be more joyous than that?” If they can’t find a solution, then I will try. Saying this, the young man went back and sat in the corner watching. Finally, the 2 men gave up and left.
After seeing this, the young man from the village got up, went over to the door, and opened it. As soon as the door opened, people started asking him how he was able to solve the puzzle. The young man replied, “While I was sitting and watching everyone try to solve the puzzle, a thought came to mind that there might not be any puzzle to open the door. So I went up to the door and just pushed, and it opened. There was no puzzle to be solved.” The king heard his answer and was very pleased. As promised, the young man was given the palace as a gift and declared heir to the kingdom.
Moral: Many times in life we get caught in a situation where we feel a big problem needs a complex and difficult solution. We think and think and overthink and get entangled in the answer. When the problem gets solved, we realize it was very simple and little effort was needed to solve it. Therefore, one needs to see the big picture, think calmly and then try to solve a problem.