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The Missing Piece   By: Shel Silverstein

It was missing a piece.
And it was not happy.
So it set off in search of its missing piece.
And as it rolled it sang this song-

"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."

Sometimes it baked in the sun
but then the cool rain would come down.
And sometimes it was frozen by the snow
but then the sun would come and warm it again.
And because it was missing a piece it could not very fast so it would stop to talk to a worm
or smell a flower
and sometimes it would pass a beetle
and sometimes the beetle would pass it
and this was the best time of all.
And on it went, over oceans
"On I'm lookin' for my missin' piece
Over land and over seas
So grease my knees and fleece my bees
I'm lookin' for my missin' piece."
through swamps and jungles
up mountains
and down mountains

Until one day, lo and behold!
"I've found my missin' piece," it sang,
"I've found my missin' piece
So grease my knees and fleece my bees
I've found my..."
"Wait a minute," said the piece.
"Before you go greasing your knees
and fleecing your bees..."
I am not your missing piece. I am nobody's piece.
I am my own piece.
And even if I was somebody's missing piece
I don't think I'd be yours!"
"Oh," it said sadly,
"I'm sorry to have bothered you."
And rolled on.
It found another piece
but this one was too small.
And this one was too big
this one too sharp
and this one too square.
One time it seemed to have found the perfect piece
but it didn't hold it tightly enough
and lost it.
Another time it held too tightly
and broke.
So on and on it rolled,
having adventures
falling into holes
and bumping into stone walls.

And one day it came upon another piece that seemed to be just right.
"Hi," it said.
"Hi," said the piece.
"Are you anybody else's missing piece?"
"Not that I know of."
"Well, maybe you want to be your own piece?"
"I can be someone's and still be mine."
"Well, maybe you don't want to be mine."
"Maybe I do."
"Maybe we won't fit...."
"Well..."
"Hummm?"
"Ummmm!"
It fit!
It fit perfectly!
At last! At last!
And away it rolled
and because it was now complete,
it rolled faster and faster.
Faster than it had ever rolled before!
So fast that it could not stop to talk to a worm
or smell a flower
too fast for a butterfly to land.
But it could sing its happy song,
at last it could sing "I've found my missing piece."
And it began to sing-
"I've frown my nizzin' geez
Uf vroun my mitzin' brees
So krease ny meas
An bleez ny drees
Uf frown..."
Oh my, now that it was complete it could not sing at all.
"Aha," it thought.
"So that's how it is!"
So it stopped rolling...
and it set the piece down gently,
and slowly rolled away
and as it rolled it softly sang-
"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."

The Missing Piece

Shel Silverstein shares a beautiful story in his book called The Missing Piece. He tells of a circle that was missing a piece. A triangular wedge had been cut out of it. The circle wanted to be whole again with nothing missing, so it began searching for its missing piece. Because it was missing a piece, it could only roll slowly, so it admired the flowers along the way, chatted with the worms, and enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of pieces as it rolled, but none fit so it left them by the side of the road and continued searching.

One day, it was so happy because it found a piece that fit perfectly. Nothing was missing now it was whole. After putting in the missing piece, it began to roll very fast too fast to notice the flowers or talk with the worms. When it realized all it was missing, it stopped and left its new piece by the road and rolled away slowly.

Harold Kushner suggests that this story tells us that in some odd sense, we may be more whole if we are missing something. We don’t have to be perfect. The man who has everything may be a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn and hope for a dream. There is wholeness about the person who has faced his limitations, who can let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so.

Parent to Parent is a safe place to fall as we join together in our brokenness to support one another. As stated by Henri Nouwen in Out of Solitude, we find that the person who means the most to us is the one who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, has chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle hand. If you would like to speak to another parent, call Parent to Parent.

作者：謝爾‧希爾弗斯坦（Shel Silverstein,1932-1999)
譯者：鍾文音
繪者：謝爾‧希爾弗斯坦

這是一本連阿扁總統都強力推薦的好書！
《失落的一角》是前幾年才過世的美國繪本大師謝爾．希爾弗斯坦最膾炙人口的作品之一。謝爾以簡潔有力的線條和文字，闡釋一則有關「完美」和「缺憾」的寓言，令大人和小孩都動容。
一九九九年六月十四日阿扁總統在參加嘉義啟學校的畢業典禮時，特別以本書的故事勉勵大家！
他說：「上帝關了一扇門，祂必為我們開啟另一扇門，留一點小缺憾反而比較完美，《失落的一角》提醒我們，有時保留一角空間，讓我們有選擇的餘地，人生可能更美好。」
人總是追求完美，凡事都希望圓圓滿滿，在追求完美的過程中，赴湯蹈火也在所不辭。但是，天下事哪有十全十美的呢？文章的後段提到：它因為太完美卻發現無法唱歌了，就像一個已經功成名就的人，驀然回首卻發現他失落了人生最美好的時光！易經中的道理也告訴我們：有陰就有陽、有剝就有復、有否就有泰、有正就有負，陰陽相生、否極泰來，沒有任何一件事是只有好處沒有壞處的，或是只有壞處沒有好處的，得失取捨之間端賴智慧！

沒抓緊，弄掉了；抓太緊，碎掉了！」就像父母對待兒女一樣，捧在手裡怕掉了，含在口裡怕化了；管太鬆，沒規矩，管太緊，不見影!也像男女談戀愛，看不緊，別人搶走了，看太緊，把他嚇跑了！收放尺度拿捏全憑寸心！
看Shel Silverstein的文章，一定要看他搭配文字所畫的插圖，有畫龍點睛的效果，圖畫讓文字更加具象，文字讓圖畫更加生動，相輔相成，缺一不可!想學英文的朋友應該看英文原著，簡單易懂又留有無限的想像空間。