A couple of days ago, a handful of us from the dance studio participated in an escape room as part of a birthday celebration of one from our dance family. As we are going through the orientation for the room, we find out that the completion rate for this particular room is only 17%. We look at each other, but we still have some hope we can do this...and if we don't beat it, at least we had fun, right?
Now, this group of folks is probably as different as any group can be. We are not a typical mix of people who would choose to be friends off the street or in the workplace. Our ages are all over the place, different religious beliefs, different backgrounds, very different fields of work and hobbies. The ONE thing that connects us is dance, and the fact that we have been dancing together for years. We are a family!
When it came to the escape room, we ended up beating it, with 2 minutes and 11 seconds left on our time! After the rush was over, and I got to thinking about our amazing feat, I thought about how all of us contributed something to solving this room. We had to find combinations and codes that helped us open things to gain access to other codes or clues. Some of these codes came from other clues that were basically puzzles to solve. Others were a bit sneaky, where you had to be in the exact spot of a room to see them painted on the wall. Even another was in some "graffiti" that didn't come right out and give you the number, but each thing written was a clue to a number (i.e., it referenced a part of a song or something). I don't think any of us would have been able to find all of the clues ourselves, because there were so many different ways they were hidden, and if we were in there with like-minded people, we probably would not have seen them all due to thinking too much the same way. However, because of our diversity and the fact we all saw the world just a bit different, we were able to get all the clues...everyone had something to contribute! No one's clue was more important than another clue, because they were ALL needed to solve the larger puzzle! That means that no one person's view of things in the room was more important...because we all needed to see the room a bit different to ultimately succeed...and probably none of us would have been able to get through it alone.
This got me thinking about problems in our country...and in the world. If only the rest of the world could see how we worked together in that room...without fighting or arguing. We just stayed focused on the prize...which was beating the room. In the end, we celebrated each person's contribution, because they were all important. How the world would be a better place if we operated like we did in that room!! What if everyone acknowledged that everyone's skills...from the janitor to the scientist finding a cure for a disease...served a purpose and was important to the end goal? I mean...we need our trash picked up and things to be cleaned just as much as we need cures for sickness. There are also about a billion things we need in-between...people who make clothing or cars, people who keep the back end workings of our cell phones and streaming services going, people who help protect our communities and our homes. No one is cut out for all of the jobs! We tend to take jobs and do things based on our beliefs...religious our otherwise. Our brains are wired differently with some people being more analytical with others being more creative. Even our physical build can dictate what we have to contribute, with some people being naturally stronger than others, or the fact that some jobs require smaller people while others require larger. The things we can contribute are no more important than the next person! We need ALL of the pieces for the world to run...just like we needed the differences between us in that room to beat it! If only the world could learn to have respect for each other and be able to work together like we did in that room, it would be a much better place!