The Box

I want to fly to space,
And discover aliens,
Be a pirate,
And sail the seas
I want to fly across the world
and swim with dolphins,
I want to hike through the wilderness to the jungle
and meet a tiger.
Small children want a lot of beautiful things,
So when does a child wanting to discover aliens become an engineer?
When does the pirate become the geographer?
when does swimming with dolphins turn to just swimming,
when does meeting a tiger become getting a cat,
when does sailing the seas become just sailing.
At some point in their little lives they are told that they need to be rational,
and grow up.
How being what you want to be is not acceptable.
They are told to fit inside a very small box called conformity.
They are told if they don’t fit then they won’t succeed.
Slowly but surely creativity and excitement is reduced
And is squashed inside a box
and they try their best to stay inside it.
To fit in.
Our children need our guidance,
they need to learn from our mistakes,
that conformity doesn’t work.
Thankfully,
it cannot contain us for long,
our spirit will eventually win out
. Eventually we win.
We get to become who we have always wanted to be.
Maybe the engineer becomes an astronaut, and discovers aliens,
maybe the geographer finds gold and treasure,
maybe the swimmer ventures out into the deep blue
and maybe they find the dolphins,
maybe the cat lover travels the world
and meets a tiger,
but,
maybe not.
If we keep stomping on our children’s creativity,
And keep forcing them to fit in a box,
they may not be able to become who they want to be.
So let them be.

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