Today is not Boxing Day—that’s on December 26. Today will be about boxes, however, so it seemed a good place to start. Have you notice that we tend to assign meaning to words we don’t understand only to learn later that we’re wrong? For years, I and probably many Americans have assumed that Boxing Day is the time when the British set out their empty containers from Christmas gifts. Not so. This year, in a fit of looking things up, I learned the actual definition which unsurprisingly has nothing to do with the trash. A detailed description here can be summarized as a second Christmas, another giving of gifts to people who give us service. One might think of the mail deliverers, for example, although technically federal employees are not good examples because of the rules governing gifts for them. Read here if you aren’t offended by the term “mailman.” Nothing over $20 in value, no cash, gifts cards that cannot be redeemed for cash. Goodness. Anyway, originally the box was left with a potential gift giver in hopes of receiving money in it after that day’s work. Now it’s a day off in many places. The Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” is set on St Stephen’s Day, December 26, and this version features Jane Seymour explaining the feast. So you have heard of it before…
The phrase “Think outside the box” has obscure origins but probably wasn’t heard before the 1960s. Before that, people spoke of Columbus’ egg. (I know. Far afield.) An apocryphal story had a group of critics telling the explorer that discovery of new lands was inevitable and no great accomplishment. Columbus challenged them to stand an egg on its end, which seemed impossible. He then tapped the egg, and it stood. This monument is based on that story. Further exploration yields Tesla’s Egg of Columbus, a version in which electromagnetism was used to stand a copper egg on its end. The movie The Current War has nothing to do with eggs and everything to do with electricity; at least some of the struggle between Edison and Westinghouse is true. I do recommend it. Two words: Benedict Cumberbatch. Really off to the races with that one.
Finally, we talk about putting people in boxes. As a young singer who goes by Daya (Sanskrit word for compassion, kindness) suggests, “Believe in yourself, go after your dreams, and don’t let anyone put you in a box.” My thinking, however, is that these days lots of people, in fact, want to be identified as being in a certain box. It’s not the same as expectations. Recently, I met a woman from Oak Cliff. That is, geographically, a “box” into which people fit in Dallas. As it turned out, she graduated from Radcliffe College and had a master’s degree from Columbia. Impressive by any measure. Another woman I know leads with her school and accomplishments, later explaining she feels the need to do so. We are all in boxes, metaphorically. Being in and being are not the same thing, however. I am not the box. It just holds me. Molds me, if I let it. My preference is not to be what someone makes me. Taking Christmas boxes down from the attic, I discovered a badly tarnished necklace. Sterling, of course! I polished it and wore it all month. Shine on, whatever box you’re in!