BOX WITHIN A BOX

Navigating the Struggle for Freedom and Self-Discovery

This poem explores the metaphor of being trapped in a 'box within a box,' symbolizing the cycles of personal confinement and the struggle for self-liberation. Through vivid imagery and introspective themes, it reflects on the challenges of breaking free from limitations and embracing growth. It is an invitation to confront our obstacles, transcend them, and find meaning beyond the confines of our own existence.

BOX WITHIN A BOX

If you find yourself in a bland monochromatic setting enclosed by four solid walls without the benefit of doors and windows, you might realize you are in a box. Here you will pace like a caged cat or curl up in a fetal position hugging the corners of the walls for security.

If you are courageous you will be above the overwhelming fear of being trapped and in a sober deliberate fashion will methodically push open the cover of this box which indifferently seals your fate. Once the cover is ajar you are free to scale the wall, pivot forward and dismount back into the world.

However, upon landing, you may discover in your struggle that you have only left the confines of a small box for those of a larger, higher box, where you are caught once again in a new cycle of seemingly inescapable imprisonment. Do you accept your fate, resigning yourself to apathy? Can you live in a box? Surely you will die in a box within a box, for outside there must be air, sunlight, bodies of water, grass, trees, flowers, fruits, vegetables, animals, art, literature, music, voices of loved ones, friends and children; beauty for you to see; delicacies for you to taste; songs for you to hear; a face for you to touch; the scent of fragrances and aromas for your body and soul.

Therefore, you must sense an imminent battle against such hopeless alienation. Take what you’ve learned from your first escape and use the raw material to push the first box up against the wall of the second in order to raise yourself to a new level, thus giving you the leverage to discharge the second lid. You are now free to leave.

The challenge of liberation can only be met by the determination to honestly commit to facing your obstacles; by the ability to internalize and apply accumulated knowledge and life experience.

Now that you are free to escape the limited confinement and alienation of the box within the box, what will you do first – knowing you can now initiate the birth struggle of your personal liberation and self-development?

Randy Settenbrino is the artist and developer of the Historic Blue Moon Hotel, The Sweet dreams Café and the Last Jewish Tenement Tours, His project was chosen by National Geographic as one of 150 in the Western Hemisphere. He writes on art, psychology, theology, and practical philosophy.