Differences

Some people tell me that living in a box is a terrible thing. One should never restrict themselves to simply living with themselves and having one task to focus on. Initially, I believed them. Why should anyone be closed off to themselves? Later, I realized that it was simple: closing the door to the outside opened the real door to the inside. I could really see the progress I could make on myself if I simply did not look outside. Maybe it is because I did not have anything to compare. Or maybe I could really just develop a level of concentration.

But I had to open my door to the outside sometime, right? Yet actually, you came to the door knocking like it was the end of the world. I never understood why you would want to look inside this box I had created for myself, but most days I am glad that you did. If you had not opened up the door to this box, maybe I would have been consumed by it. Not that there was any problem with that, yet it was probably better for me to get out sometimes too.

You never thought of creating a box for yourself. Whereas my world began within me, yours was everywhere. All over the place and everywhere at once. I would not say that I was jealous, but you would never find someone like you being jealous of someone like me. As we took a walk down the street, you would see the smiling faces, while I just thought of the color of the lights. Yet when the world around you fell apart, you would take it harder than I would. Maybe it mattered more to you, or maybe I just knew I would survive.

Despite the differences we had between us, you would still hold the door of my box open for me. You did not need to; I never asked you to, and I don’t think I ever even said thank you. But I think you still knew that I appreciated you for it. Yet what do any of us know? We’ve never even spoken.