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Boxing Lessons
When Kaspar came of age and it was time for him to leave home, his father told him, “It is your sacred duty, in addition to earning a living and raising a family, to discover The Secret. Here’s your box.” The wooden box, a one-foot cube, weighed about two pounds. Kaspar took the box. He had no choice. He had no idea what to do with it, but he didn’t want to appear ignorant by asking, so he carried it with him. It wasn’t all that heavy, but it was uncomfortable, those sharp edges. It got in the way and always tied up at least one hand. One day Kaspar met a holy man who said, “Look here. Enlightened people don’t carry their boxes in that fashion. You need a case in which to keep it, to protect it. Proceeds from these cases, hand crafted by our monks in the forest, go to help alleviate badness and feed the indigenous.” Kaspar, not wishing to appear stingy or ungrateful, purchased a case. It was kind of nice, a rectangle with rope handles on either end. Even with the added weight it really was easier to carry that way. It tied up both his hands, but he refreshed himself with the knowledge that he was helping to feed the...what was it? Some kind of people who were obviously hungry. Kaspar attended a seminar by a woman who’d written a famous book: Box Toting for Dummies. She promised that the book contained common sense information that no idiot should be without. Sure, he bought one. It was full of valuable information such as, “A self-reliant person will build his own box, showing the world that he is not only capable of fine craftsmanship, but also that he is no wimp, that he can carry more weight than lesser, more dependent people can.” Kaspar built a bigger, cruder box and proudly placed the others inside it. It didn’t look like much, but by golly it was his. After he added a box that contained the Guaranteed Seven Secrets for Successful Box Lugging, he had quite a load. He might have to carry this burden, but he was going to be smart about it. All this put a damper on earning a living and raising a family, but he did it. He did it as best he knew how. He noticed that some other people were not carrying boxes. He felt sorry for them. Once a kid asked, “What’s with the boxes?” Kaspar figured the kid was just too young to understand. He didn’t get back to the old home place very often; he was so busy and so tired. Besides, he felt guilty because he’d never discovered The Secret. On the way to his father’s funeral Kaspar sat down on the side of the road, exhausted. Out of curiosity, he started unpacking until he got down to the original gift. He opened it for the first time. Inside was an envelope: The Secret. The little handwritten note said simply, “Put down the damn boxes.”
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