The Box Makers.
There is a curious habit humans have developed over centuries: the need to classify first and understand later.
A profession becomes a personality. A title becomes an identity. A single event becomes a permanent definition. Once the label is attached, observation quietly stops and assumption takes over.
The entrepreneur is expected to think only of money. The artist must be impractical. The scientist cannot be spiritual. The quiet person is arrogant. The friendly person lacks depth. The successful person must have had advantages. Doctors cannot be sick. The struggling person must have made mistakes.
Entire lives are compressed into convenient files because complexity demands attention while categories demand very little effort.
Reality, however, has always been untidy.
People change careers, beliefs, priorities, interests, and dreams. They carry contradictions comfortably. They outgrow their old selves, while others continue speaking to ghosts from decades earlier.
Perhaps this is why genuine curiosity has become so rare and so valuable.
Curiosity asks, “Who are you?”
Assumption asks, “Which shelf should I place you on?”
The first creates discovery.
The second creates storage.
Human beings were never designed to fit neatly into filing cabinets.
Sowmya has spent years observing humanity with the curiosity of a traveller and the caution of a wildlife photographer. She remains fascinated by the speed with which people can assemble entire biographies from three facts, two assumptions and a misplaced confidence.
Suggested Reading: The Secret Life of Readers and Writers