Little Boxes - Part 2

Now it turns out I'm not the only one without a little box. The journey of boxes is a pilgrimage undertaken by millions and billions of people each and every day. One would think that by now a common journey like this, traveled by so many people, would have carved deep trenches into the earth due to all the traffic going back and forth, back and forth, along the same paths over and over. Similar to grassy plains, where the lush green grass of the earth simply gives way to the many footprints that tread upon it, day after day, up and down, with all of its heavy burdens, trying to find an end to its journey. But the truth is, the paths are never the same. In fact many times the paths may cross each other, overlapping, one on top of the other, layer over layer, in many directions, but simply...never...the same.

And if you're wondering of it is even remotely possible to simply stop at an intersection of paths and layers, and to decide to merely walk along the path of another, then the answer, regrettably, is yes. But walking along the path of someone else's journey is never an easy road. If anything, it only makes your journey even longer, and sometimes even worse than the road you've already been travelling. Think about it...you know how long you've traveled, and you know how many bumps and snags you've hit along your road. So...would you really advise someone else to take it? Then what makes you think that anybody else would have a road much smoother than yours? A saying once went like this..."Every man thinks his burden is the heaviest."...And if this is so, then does that not imply that every man has a burden. Yes, in some way or another, the implication is true. Then that leaves only one thought in mind...are you willing to abandon your path, in the hopes that another, though very rigid and bumpy, will simply be less bumpy than yours?

And so I have learned the unmistakable truth. That I am not the only one without a box. If I was, there wouldn't be so many roads and footprints left on abandoned journeys all over the world. There would simply be one path, in one direction and one set of footprints left in the sand. But for now...my journey continues, along my own path, at my own pace, in my own direction, signed by my own footprints, not for anyone else...just for me.

Little Boxes - Part 1

It's funny isn't it? When someone asks you a simple question, and for the life of you you cannot understand why it is that you find it so difficult to give a simple answer, especially when the question is about a really easy topic...you. I encountered a very unusual question the other night, completely unexpected, completely simple, completely complicated...yet simply incomplete.

The conversation started easy enough: "You look good. You look different. How have you been?" You know...the usual type of questions from someone close to you who you haven't seen in a while. But then the conversation took a horrible turn down an unending road, filled with discomfort, confusion and worse of all...it ended in a question. The question: "So let's be honest, it's just you and me. Who are you...really?"

Yes...the worst type of question anyone could have asked me. Especially when one considers the fact that I myself did not know the answer to the question. So for a while I sat and thought about it...all night in fact. And I found myself asking myself another really bad question: "Who am I supposed to be?". So I thought to myself. You know those little boxes, the ones you can't really see, and yet the ones that are the most visible when you find yourself looking for one. They're the boxes nobody talks about, and the ones that everyone wants. They're the boxes we're supposed to fit into in order to have a greater understanding about who we are, and how we relate to other people.

So now I'm sitting with the biggest dilemma ever...Out of all the pretty boxes. Millions and billions of them. For some reason I can't find a single one that I am meant to fit into. It would be easier if they were labeled a bit better, and if the shapes and sizes weren't so specific. But no...not a single little box that's just right for me. Am I the only person without a little box?