a story

there was a girl that had some stuff that she kept in boxes. it was a fairly good system - she knew where everything was & could usually find what she was looking for. there was this, and there was that. she did not fully understand every thing that was in every box, but she did know that all the things were her responsibility, so she did not throw anything away.

one day the flood came, and all the boxes got wet, and all the sides of all the boxes bowed and collapsed, and all her stuff fell out. it was a jumble and a mess, and the people who shared her life said they would help her pick up her stuff and put it back into boxes. they all began the work together, but then, those people were repelled & disgusted by some of her stuff. they said it was hideous, and they refused to touch it, and they went away & left her with her stuff. she took a look at the stuff, and it all looked the same to her, but she thought that the people who had shared her life were wise & good, so she accepted their judgments, and she took those things they said were hideous and put those things in plastic bins. the bins were sturdier than the boxes, and the bins would protect those hideous things from flooding and keep those things hidden from sight. so, she took her boxes & her bins & her stuff that was her responsibility, and found some new people to share her life.

then, the earthquake came. all the cardboard boxes broke & spilled, and all the tops flew off all the plastic bins, and all her stuff from all her containers fell out. it was a jumble and a mess, and the people who shared her life said they would help her pick up her stuff and put it back into boxes. they all began the work together, but then, those people were repelled & disgusted by some of her stuff. they said it was hideous, and they refused to touch it, and they went away & left her with her stuff. so, she took a look at the stuff, and it all still looked the same to her, but she thought that the people who had shared her life were wise & good, so she accepted their judgments, and she took those things they said were hideous and put those things in steel cases and put those cases in a vault. then, she took the stuff that was acceptable, and put it in the plastic bins she still had because all the cardboard cases kept getting destroyed, and she didn't feel like messing with them anymore.

so, she took her vault & her bins & her stuff that was her responsibility, and found some new people to share her life. these new people could not see the stuff in the vault, but they took great interest in her stuff that she kept in the bins. they liked to take her stuff out & pass it around & comment on it. she interpreted this as acceptance and found it to be comforting. but, she began to notice that when they commented, they laughed. she was not sure that her stuff was funny. then, she began to notice that when they took her stuff out of the bins, sometimes they did not put it back or if they put it back, they would return it incorrectly, and sometimes they would break her stuff or misplace her stuff, so that she began to have to spend a great deal of time finding her stuff and repairing it. her stuff was constantly in a jumble & a mess, and she did all the cleaning up on her own. finally, she noticed that this group always used her stuff - that they never got out any of their own stuff.

she realized, this is how to keep your stuff from getting broken or misplaced or put back incorrectly or not put back at all: if you store it securely and never get it out, it will be safe. she thought the people who shared her life were wise & good, so she followed their example, took all her stuff, put it in steel cases, and put the cases in a vault. the vault became big & heavy & unweildy, so she could not carry it around, but her stuff was a part of her, and it was her responsibility, and she could not leave it. so, she put her blanket on the cold, hard, steel floor of the vault, and she closed the big, heavy, steel door, and she sat on her blanket. now, she can take out all of her stuff & looks at it & passes it around to herself & back around to herself, and nobody says it is hideous, and nobody puts it back incorrectly or not at all, and nobody comments on it, and nobody breaks it. nobody touches her stuff but her, as she sits on her blanket in the security of her vault.