Wondering - Imagine This

Inspired by my friend Kirk

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a box. The box had four sides and everything was perfectly black or perfectly white. There were no shades of grey in the box. The little girl wasn't alone in the box by any means. About 40000 people lived in the box, most of them very happily but if you lived at the bottom of the box as this little girl did you'd know that there were cracks in the box. Not that you ever mentioned them. Cracks were things which were only spoken about in hushed tones behind closed doors if at all. In fact cracks were so unmentionable that most of the people who didn't live at the bottom of the box were blissfully unaware of their existence. All this even though some of the cracks were big enough for whole families of people to fall through.

Now look over there. See that little girl? Look what she's doing. It's something forbidden. She's looking out of the box!

That little girl grew curious as the years went by. Every day she was told never to look outside the box. "There's only blackness out there" she was told, "And black is dangerous." but often she didn't even hear. Her mind was wandering, wondering and questioning. She longed to know what was outside the box. When she hoped no one was looking she'd gaze out of the box and look at all the people outside. Sometimes people would even stop and talk to her.

"Come out here little girl."

"No," she replies, "It's black out there and black is dangerous."  

"What's black?" asks a boy one day. "This is grey."

Now the little girl had never even heard of grey. She'd always been told that things are either black or white. She looked more intently into the wilderness outside the box and realised that the boy was right. It was very frightening at first looking out into the blackness but eventually she got used to the fact that if she looked long and hard enough, things she thought were black were in fact a shade of grey. Some spots were a darker grey than others but still not black like she'd been told.

Now she is torn. Look at her! "Who is right?" she's wondering. Is it the people in the box who see nothing but black and white or the people outside the box who see nothing but grey? As we speak she sits on the edge of the box looking from left to right. One leg in and one leg out.... wondering.

 

Author's Note

Allegorical.
Feedback? Comments? :)

Reviews

[alifeacoustic]

Ah, the forbidden fruits of wonder. Being told one thing while dreaming of the other. Wanting what is just out of reach. The others reaction to looking outside is a little bit like one of the toy story movies, where they are horrified the doll has been taken out it's packaging, when that was it's only purpose in life.
A very enjoyable read. Thank you for sharing.

[Stan Lee]

I like that. The toy story example is spot on. If you never look outside the box you'll never know that there's a whole other world out there where everyone thinks completely differently to the way you've always thought. And once you've been taken out of the packaging there's no going back. Thanks for your insightful review. I appreciate you taking the time. :)

[alifeacoustic]

Your'e very welcome (smiley face)

[SoulBird]

This is a very good story my friend.. I think it is well written and its amazing I like it.. And right now I feel like that little girl.. So afraid to try new things and so afraid to break the shell.. I think life its going to hurt anyway.. Wether you stay in the box or out.. Or wether its dark or blue.. Life is meant to be felt so I love this it makes one to think.. And I love you my friend :):):) lol but please stop writing very short coz the time I enjoy and be curious your story ends..:) lol :) keeps smiling #hug #tight

[Stan Lee]

lol. Thanks SoulBird but the whole point of my short story is to make people think and be curious. I'm glad you could relate to the little girl. It's a big scary world. Different people will tell us different things and it's up to us to decide what we believe is right. Thanks again for reading and reviewing. :) :) :)

[Viv Wade]

This is brilliant! I love the way it's written in such a simple style, like a kids story - yet it really makes the reader think. I wish that more people would find their way out of the black and white box, and find themselves able to see the many shades of grey in between! Nice job, Andronicus!

[Stan Lee]

Thank you so much Silent. I'm glad you liked my attempted allegory. It's meant to make us think, happy to hear that it succeeded in that area. Another question to ponder, If you only see grey does that essentially mean you have no morals? Thanks again for taking the time to read and review. :)