Once, a person was given a present.
The present was large and outlandish. A giant box covered in opulent wrapping paper. On the top sat a large, beautiful bow. It weighed what felt like a ton. The person struggled to pick up the present, so he placed it on the floor.
The Giver beamed as he saw the person begin to unwrap the present.
Like a child on Christmas morning, the person unwrapped it with as much energy and gusto he could manage. Visions swirled in his head about what the gift might be. Where would he have space for it? It is heavy enough to sit on my shelf? Can I carry it around to show my friends? All these thoughts and more made its way into the person’s mind and heart.
Once the wrapping paper was gone and the bow removed, the person lifted the present out of its box. To his amazement he finds not a big, expensive drawer or the most expensive stereo around. Instead, he sees another box.
This box, is slightly smaller but not by much. The wrapping paper is still expensive, the bow extravagant, yet a little cramped because it sat inside the larger box.
The person was a little surprised but then grew more excited. This must be one of those special gifts that is worth opening again! He did look through the wrapping paper of the last box, just to make sure he didn’t miss anything. No, it was just paper and an empty box.
No matter, he thought. And so, with great energy, he unwraps the second box. As the same as before, he finishes unwrapping the second box and throws the paper to the side in triumph. He expectantly pulls out…a third box.
The third box was wrapped in nice wrapping paper, but not as fancy as before. A bow was situated on top but it wasn’t as nice as the other two. In fact, it was fairly smushed because it was cramped together by the weight of the previous two boxes.
Haha, this is pretty funny, the person said to the Giver. You’re making me work for this gift! The Giver smiled and said nothing.
A little tired and a little leery, the person unwraps the third box. He is expectant, perhaps more so. Now, he’s thinking less about the size of the gift and more about the quality. Maybe it’s a key to a car or that house he was looking at the other day. Maybe, it’s a new phone or tablet. Ah, I know what it is, he thinks. It’s a backpack so I see the world! The person finds himself very excited as he rips the wrapping paper on the third box.
Once he is done, he closes his eyes to get the full experience. He lifts out the present to find a fourth box. Smaller with simpler wrapping paper and bow, this present was starting to get on the person’s nerves.
He looks at the Giver. This is quite bizarre and weird, the person says. What are you trying to get at here? The Giver, who usually is quite the chatty kind, is silent with no expression.
The person can feel himself start to lose it a little. How in the world is going on here? How much longer is this going to take? Yet, he’s already gotten this far, so he might as keep going.
As you can imagine, after he unwrapped the fourth box, the person found a fifth box. Then a sixth and a seventh and so on. The wrapping paper was now newspapers from weeks back and simple thread and string holding the box together replaced the bow.
The person was angry with the Giver, almost to the point of a blind rage. What is this madness? Is this a cruel joke? For the person, it didn’t matter what the actual gift was at the end of all of this. He was too upset about going through all these boxes and unwrapping all this paper and finding more boxes and more paper to go through.
Nevertheless, he kept going. The Giver has never seemed to be cruel or done anything unusually bad before, maybe there’s a note saying he’s inherited the house or told him where to find treasure. The person was angry for sure but if anything, he was persistent.
And so, he kept going until eventually, he got to the last box. It was tiny, with just a sheet of paper as its wrapping. The person takes off the paper and sees a ring carrier. Ah, it is a ring! Now, I can give this to my true love and we shall be together forever! I cannot wait for her to see this!
The person opens up the ring box and finds a pebble. A small stone, insignificant and contrary. It just sat there, leaving flakes of dust inside the ring box. The person picks it up and is completely surprised and befuddled.
He holds it up to the Giver and asks, what is this? The Giver remains silent to the question.
He asks again. What IS this? Silence.
He asks a third time, screaming in anger. WHAT IS THIS? ANSWER ME!
No answer.
The person has had enough. He storms out of the house and goes outside. This is what I think about your gift, he says to the Giver. With all his might, the person throws the pebble toward the road. It lands on the side and stays there.
The person is too angry to sit on the ground so he stands, looking at the road. He cannot think of anything coherent to say, or really anything of use to do, so he stands there. He then hears footsteps behind him. He turns around and sees the Giver, standing at the doorway of the house.
He faces the Giver and as he is about to berate the Giver some more, the Giver speaks to him.
I’m sorry you didn’t like your present, even though you enjoyed unwrapping the boxes so much at first. And I’m sorry you threw the stone onto the road. Yet, this is exactly what I wanted you to do.
Every person receives the same present. Some see the large box and the ornate wrapping paper and refuse to open the gift because they like the box so much, they don’t want to ruin the illusion of what the present might be.
Some start to unwrap the boxes but get annoyed or angry and just stop and put it to the side. Others get toward the end but are too tired to finish and they just leave it.
And then there are those who get to the end and discover the real present. They, like you, are confused, doubtful and question my intentions. Some carry the stone in their pocket or hang it around their necks. But eventually, they decide that the stone deserves to be on the ground and thus, they throw it onto the road.
And it does deserve to be on the ground because that’s where it belongs. You see, what you think is a rejection is really a foundation. That stone, so small and ordinary, is now the ground you walk on.
So go, leave this house. And walk.
The Road to Good Air 