GETTING OUT OF THE 'BOXES' WE ARE RAISED IN







Pic.: Alwyn Mathais
“If you don't get out of the box you've been raised in,
you won't understand how much bigger the world is.”
- Angelina Jolie
The ‘box’, Angelina is referring to, is our mind. Unless, we bring ourselves out of the rut – the image – we are in, we shall, always, be held captive there. Yes, inside the ‘box’. Someone had said it, rather bluntly, this way:
“A rag-picker’s son will, always, remain a rig-picker as long as he has the image of the rag-picker.”
And, that’s the story of each and every one of us…
We have this image of the situation in which we are born and grown… That’s our ‘box’, our ‘image’… our ‘world’. So, till we don’t look at it hard and decide to re-sketch this image, decide to re-write our script, we will, always, remain caught-up in our ‘boxes’.
There should be something bigger than us calling us, all the time… There should be something greater challenging us, all the time… A bigger vision, a greater cause… a brighter place to be… Only then will we give our best, only then will we come out of our ‘boxes’…

A frog’s world is the pond he finds himself in. When the pond gets full, he has the choice to go out to find a new world – brighter and bigger world. Or, he can hold on to his pond and die there… And, just as this frog, we, too, have these choices to make… To get caught-up in our ponds, or to come out in search of a bigger and brighter world…


The sorrows that we choose to live with… The hurt, hatred, resentment and self-pity we choose to live with… the self-defeating habits we are entangled with… negative influences and friendship that seem to rule our lives… the poverty we are faced with, the jobs that we are placed with… the religious beliefs that dictate our reactions… yes, all these are the ‘boxes’ we are caught-up in…

Unless we take a hard look at our boxes, we will never be able to find a new world…

A frog will always remain as a frog-in-the-pond… A rag-picker’s son will, always, remain a rag-picker…  

Yes, inside the ‘box’ called ‘mind’!



GERALD D’CUNHA



Comments

Balan R said…
Loved the rag-picker's line.
March 23, 2015 at 11:16 PM
Richard D' Costa said…
Getting out of our 'boxes'... You have given a different dimension to this phrase, liked it.
March 24, 2015 at 6:50 AM
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