Stone Soup

This past week I learned what “Stone Soup” was. Stone Soup is in fact NOT actually stone soup (unless you actually put stones in a pot of soup, then you would truly have stone soup). Nonetheless, Stone Soup is a tale, a story read and shared with children to help them develop the idea that sharing can result in greatness and success; and that little things can become so much more if everyone was to put forth small contributions of their own to the whole.

My lesson of Stone Soup began when we were scattered out of our design class with our groups. Instructed to settle in a location, and to create using our surroundings and what random materials we had contributed within the group, we created. The sky was the limit. Anything was possible. With ideas strewing out, we ended up with “EMO,” or as our teacher had named our creation, “Dezzi.” Without the effort and input from each member of our group, the creation of “EMO” would not have been.

With the command of sharing and contribution ingrained in us from youth – from the times our mothers had demanded we share our candies with siblings or crayons with our peers, even though we did not want to, we did it reluctantly – now we contribute and share our knowledge, possessions, ideas, and efforts willingly in hopes of and to strive towards success. Stone Soup has become somewhat of an invisible act in society. Some of us do not realize our contribution to society, to our work, our passion, even our family and friends. Where would our nation be in this war if troops did not contribute their strength? Would the show go on if it lacked the expertise of the lighting crew? Well, yes, it may go on, but would it not have been, more so, radiant if their expertise was present? Would we still be residing within cave walls if not for architects? What would we wear without designers to tell us what to wear?

How I see it, we all contribute in one way or another to society and everything inside and out of it. Always designing in hopes of success, however one would define the word success.