Problem solving story: The magic of seeing a flaw as an opportunity

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was afar away land. In that land, there were many small kingdoms. Each of the kingdoms was quite ordinary and nobody paid much attention to either of them. That’s until one day when someone saw the flaw as an opportunity in the most valuable possessions in one of the kingdoms. It all started with a gift.

One day, the king of the smallest kingdom received a huge beautiful diamond from a relative who had just died. It was the largest diamond anyone had ever seen. The other kings began to pay attention to him for if he had a diamond like this then he must be special. The people, too, came from far and wide to see the diamond. The king had it on constant display in a glass box so that all who wished could come to see and admire it. Of course, armed guards kept a constant vigil. Both king and kingdom prospered, and the king attributed all his good fortune to the diamond.

One day a nervous guard asked to see him. The guard was visibly shaken. He told the king terrible news: the diamond had developed a flaw! A crack right down the middle! The king was horrified and ran to the glass box to see for himself. It was true. The diamond was now flawed terribly.

The king called all the jewelers in the land to ask their advice. They gave him only bad news. The flaw was so deep, they said, that if they were to try to sand it down, they would grind it to practically nothing, and if they tried to split it into two still substantial stones, it easily might shatter into a million fragments.

As the king was pondering these terrible options, an old jeweler who had arrived late came to him and said, “If you will give me a week with that stone, I think I can fix it.” The king didn’t believe him at first because the other jewelers were so sure it couldn’t be fixed. But the old man was insistent and convinced the king by saying “I see this flaw as an opportunity with which you will show the rest of the kingdoms how special you and this kingdom really are.” And with hearing those words the king finally decided to let the old jeweler work on it. But the diamond could not leave the castle. The old man said that would be all right and that he could work there and the guards could stand outside the room where he would work.

The king, having no better solution, agreed to let the old man work. For a week he and the guards hovered near the room where the old man was working, hearing scratching and gentle pounding and grinding. They wondered what was he doing and if the old man was tricking them.

Finally, the week was up and the old man came out of the room. King and guards rushed in to see the old man’s work, and the king burst into tears of joy. It was better! The old man had carved a perfect rose on the top of the diamond, and the crack that ran down inside now was the stem of the rose.