The View From My Box

Everyone has their own little box. The forgotten children in the Favelas of Brasil have their own little boxes: they sleep in them at night. The cab drivers in New York have their own little boxes: they drive them around the city all day long. These people have these boxes for protection from the outside elements. Others of us, though our boxes aren't as literal, have them for protection, as well. These boxes are often labeled things like "social class", "formality", and "manners", and we use them for protection from outside elements like "awkwardness", "discomfort", and "embarrassment".

I have been utilizing both the literal and the figurative types of boxes lately. Despite the wonderful weather, I've been cooped up inside of my apartment creating on my computer all day, and, rather than go out with people who I don't know as well, I make up excuses for why I cannot go out. Life is just easier when you sit in your studio apartment all day: there are tough and confusing things out there in the real world like public transportation...and people.

Unfortunately (or fortuately), I have no food in my kitchen right now, and I have not eaten in almost 24 hours. Hunger will be the thing that drives me from my box. It is also the thing that drives the children in the favelas from their boxes, and it is the thing that makes cab drivers drive their boxes all over New York.

The view from my box (ironically, onto other boxes):