The Missing Piece

In 1976, Shel Silverstein published, "The Missing Piece,"  a timeless contribution to children's literature.

The story is about a pacman-like creature that sets out to find its missing piece.  The adventure starts out being fun, as it rolls around singing....

Oh, I'm lookin' for my missin' piece

I'm lookin' for my missin' piece

Hi-dee-ho, here I go

Lookin' for my missin' piece.

After a while, It finds the missing piece that makes the little creature complete.  But, soon It realizes It can't do the things It used to do.  Now It can't sing, nor can It roll along slowly enough to enjoy visiting with the butterfly or the worm.  The little creature decides It was a lot happier when It wasn't complete. So, It lets go of the missing piece and keeps right on living the happy moments along the way.

A New York Time's Book Review had this to say about the book, "This fable can also be interpreted to mean that no one should try to find all the answers, no one should hope to fill all the holes in themselves, achieve total transcendental harmony or psychic order, because a person without a search, loose ends, internal conflicts and external goals becomes too smooth to enjoy or know what's going on.  Too much satisfaction blocks exchange with the outside."