Heart-Shaped Box

There is a box in all of us, be it shaped like a heart or a diamond, that we keep from the rest of the world. The question is always one of what happens when we open it. What do we find? What does this reveal to us, to others? The problem with such boxes, be they literal or metaphorical, is that they are full of secrets. And those are possibly the things we fear the most.

That box has one of those old locks on it, the ones that look like they would have been beautiful but whose beauty is hidden by grime, maybe just the same way as people. And the key is simple, old-fashioned and plain, the sort that anyone who has half a clue about modern locks will tell you couldn't do much of anything. But that's not the point of it. It's one of those locks that clicks as soon as you turn the key, and squeals when you lift the lid to open it.

Somehow, right before you see what's inside, your heart skips a beat, your breath stops short in your throat for an instant, and then you open it and life goes on as normal. So what do you find? What secrets, truths, passions, desires, mysteries, agonies, reflections are there? All of the pieces of paper, going further and further into the seemingly bottomless box. Some folded, some crinkled, some with torn edges and holes burnt right through. These are the memories, the stories, the confusions and misunderstandings that have shaped your world.

Without them, you are nothing. With them, you are full of fear. Fear of discovery, fear of weakness, fear of rejection, desertion, failure, misunderstanding and countless more. Within that box is what we all want most and what we all fear most--it is ourselves. We are our own most powerful enemies. Because we know everything. To have that power over someone, even if only yourself, is the power over life and death.

What do we fear so much about that box? That tiny box is somehow the center of our lives, the thing that defines us. Maybe that's why so often when we're caught gazing into it, we shut it tightly and avert our eyes. We fear anybody knowing as much about us as is in that box. Secret after secret, page after page, our lives are spelled out there, and if we were foolish enough to leave that box unlocked for one to see, it would be as though we left our souls out to be taken for free. So we guard them, and hide them, and sometimes even try to throw away the key...but somehow it always finds its way back to us and we find ourselves once more peering into the shadows of the letters on each page...