axiomatic
\ ak-see-uh-MAT-ik \ , adjective;
1. pertaining to or of the nature of an axiom; self-evident; obvious.
2. aphoristic.
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“Are
you blind? It’s so obvious.” Craig said in frustration. Nick just grumbled as he stared at the sheet
of paper. “Seriously, man. A kid could solve it. I mean that.
This is actually meant for kids.
Anyone with half a brain can do it.”
Craig paused for a moment before continuing. “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I offend you?” He said in a way only useable for those who
had been friends for years.
“Oh,
shut up.” Nick grumbled.
“I’ll
stop when you figure this thing out. It’s
not that hard. I took two minutes.”
“Yeah
well, maybe only an idiot can solve something like this. You know, make them feel better about
themselves.”
“Uh
huh.” Craig said. He watched Nick puzzle over the riddle some
more before speaking again. “You want a
hint?”
“No.” Nick said bluntly.
“You
sure? It looks like you need one.”
“I don’t
want a hint. At least not from you.”
“Ok
then. You’ll never get it then.”
“Yes I
will. I just need to think about it some
more.”
“If you
say so.” Craig said, not even trying to
hide his amusement.
“Yeah,
I do. Besides, if you can answer it, I
can too.”
“Most
of the time, I’d agree. But since you
still haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not so sure.”
Nick
just grumbled some more out of frustration.
The truth was, he had found an answer to the riddle. The problem was, it was so simple and
obvious, that it couldn’t possibly be the correct answer. Being obvious defeated the whole point of a
riddle, and so the obvious solution couldn’t be the right one. There had to be something else that he just
wasn’t seeing. Yet.
Craig hovered
around Nick for awhile, watching him puzzle out the riddle. Eventually though, he went and sat on the
nearby couch. Nick was quite happy not
to have the distraction. That is, until
Craig started whistling. It was a
tuneless string of sounds that threw off Nick’s concentration.
“Do you
have to do that now?” He asked.
“Do
what?” Craig said in mock ignorance before
resuming his tune.
“That. That incessant noise you’re making.”
“I don’t
think my whistling is that bad, is it?”
“It is
when I’m trying to focus.”
“Yeah,
see, I think that’s the problem here.”
“What
do you mean?”
“Well,
you’re trying too hard.” Nick looked at
his friend blankly. It was like Craig
was trying to overload his system with another riddle while he was still
puzzling over the first one.
“Huh?”
“See,
you’re so busy trying to find an answer that you think makes sense that you’re
overlooking the one that’s right in front of you. Try not thinking so hard and see what you
come up with.”
Nick
huffed. Craig was speaking
nonsense. How could thinking less come
up with a solution when careful thought couldn’t? Nevertheless, his current thought process wasn’t
getting him anywhere, so he figured he might as well give it a shot.
Nick
let his mind go blank and looked at the riddle again. The first answer he saw jumped out at him
right away. But now it made much more
sense. In fact, it seemed downright
reasonable that it was the right answer.
He picked up a pencil and scribble his solution down under the
words. Craig stood and went to see what
had been written down.
“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Craig said, clapping Nick on the back.
“Wait,
you mean this is actually right?” Nick
asked.
“Yup. The one and only correct answer.”
“No
way. It’s too simple. A child…could…” Nicks words drifted off as he realized what
he had just said.
“Told
you so.” Craig said with a cocky grin
plastered to his face. “You gotta loosen
up man. Over thinking things’ll get you in trouble one day.”
“Yeah,
yeah, yeah. I get it.”
“Good. So, you want to try another one?"*****************************************
Remember folks, sometimes the simplest solution is the best solution. Not always, but often enough.
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