Jigsaw

Ever since time immemorial man has grappled with profound questions of existence, being, morality, good and evil. He is born into fairly stable institutions like family, education, society and community, but these are all the time under existential threat. Lionel is a young boy who goes to school near his home. He herds livestock over the weekend and during school holidays. He feels he is in love with the most beautiful girl in his class but is too shy to declare his love for her. Years later after they go to different secondary schools they meet and become casual friends, but he is in love with another girl. Lionel has over time overcome his bashfulness and become a skilled seducer, but Mercy is far and remains largely an ideal. He is not able to complete secondary school and drops out to learn motor-vehicle mechanics and building construction under the tutelage of his elder brother. At the same time the world outside the school is expanding and he come to know alot about the world his moral choices, especially in regard to adultery, become confused. Life becomes a puzzle, a jigsaw that at first feels mundane but gradually pans out to encompass issues of identity, good and evil, and destiny. These have no clear resolutions. Once in a while a chink of a chance to redeem oneself, a certain poignant moment, stands, to be taken or overlooked, or rejected, with profound ramifications.