Made in Humane Club
Luna the cat had a great idea. She wanted to build a treehouse so that her friends and she could play and make plans. She got a group of friends to help her.
Luna said, “I want to build a treehouse. We can play and plan things there. Will you help me?”. Midnight the owl, her best friend, said, “Sure, why not. But where should we start?”.
Uh-oh. Luna hadn’t thought about that. She had no idea what to do. She said, “Well, just start making the treehouse! What’s the big deal in that”. She then showed the drawing.
Everyone was confused. They all started to make different parts of the treehouse. There was no coordination. Some people even made duplicate parts. Luna screamed, “Stop! We’re doing it all wrong. Wood is being wasted”. Lily the skunk said, “But I don’t know where to start from. Can you please give us some more context?”.
Luna thought for a while, then she grabbed a piece of paper and wrote the following in sequence:
- The supporting rods
- The base
- The walls
- The window
- The roof
- The fence
- The ladder
- The tyre swing
She thought, “Thank goodness! This is just eight small parts!“.
But then Midnight said, “It is still a little confusing. What do you mean by walls?”.
Luna said, “Hmmm… Good point. I’ll fix that”.
- The supporting rod {1}
- The large square base {1}
- The medium square wall {2}
- The medium square wall with a window cutout {1}
- The medium square wall with a door cutout {1}
- The slanting roof
- The fence {3}
- The fence with a door {1}
- The ladder placed underneath the fence with a door {1}
- The tyre swing {1}
Luna said, “This was a handy trick my mom had taught me. She told me to break things down into small parts. I was completely stumped. I should have stayed calm. Then none of this would have happened”. Midnight said, “It’s okay. We all make mistakes. But just remember this trick”.
Qusaur the sloth said, “Oh and one more thing. Order matters. Without it, this treehouse will not get built properly”.
It was time to build the treehouse. Tanchink the bear dug up one hole in the ground. He then added the supporting rod. Lily the skunk put a large square slab on the tree. That was the base.
Midnight the owl added the wall with a door. Luna the cat added another wall which had a square window. Jumper the rabbit added the rest of the walls. Then Qusaur climbed up the tree and added the roof.
All that was left was the ladder and the tyre swing. Midnight said, “I have a tyre swing in my store room. I’ll get it here”. Off she went to get the swing. Tanchink said, “I have a ladder in my store room. I’ll get it in a minute”. Off he went too.
Once they were back, Luna added both of the items. She felt as proud as a peacock looking at the treehouse that they had built. Lily the skunk said, “Who wants to get an ice cream treat? The ice cream man is here!”.
Things to learn: When the problem is big, make it small. Always break things down. Don’t get stunted due to the size of the problem. A few knife strokes will handle that well.