\u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d These wise words, which I had heard more than once growing up, did not occur to me as I observed my son and nephew, ages five and eight respectively, happily playing a board game according to rules they had invented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The game, called \u201cPen the Pig,\u201d was an offshoot of the more basic game known as \u201cDots.\u201d In the game of Dots, you create a rectangular grid of dots on a piece of paper. Players take turns drawing a straight line between two of these dots. The player who fills in the fourth line of a particular square can place his\/her initial in the box and claim it as a point. In Pen the Pig, the players build pig pens, and the player who places the final side on a pen gets to place one of his little plastic pigs inside. It is, you see, a competitive game that allows for last-minute steals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The boys, however, were merely taking turns as each built his own pens. When one player completed one of his pens, he placed a pig inside and then cheerfully turned the next move over to his cousin. They were building pig pens side by side, two mild-mannered farmers living at peace with each other and the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What bit of madness, perfectionism, masochism, or whatever, drove me to explain the written rules to these two gentle creatures? Within moments of adopting this new approach, they were yelling and crying and accusing each other of cheating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many times, I wonder, have I stepped into a situation to try and improve it, or get people to at least do it right, and wound up upsetting the apple cart? I am reminded of that Christmas when I was about five, and I got Gretel, a doll representing the youngest Von Trapp sister, as a gift. I was intrigued by her tightly spiraled braids that looped around her ears; so intrigued, in fact, that I took them down so that I could see how they were done. I planned to give her hair a thorough brushing and put the braids back. However. . .that day was more than fifty years ago, and while I still have Gretel, she has never regained her intricate, beautiful braids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It really is hard to know when things need fixing and when they don\u2019t. Perhaps the thing to do is take a second look, and then a third, at a given situation before deciding what, if anything, needs to be done. I believe the physicians promise to \u201cfirst, do no harm.\u201d That\u2019s an approach we might all do well to adopt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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For your further edification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n