I like to write stories lately when I'm trying to figure something out so this is one I wrote a few days ago. It was inspired by my dad telling me "When I was a baby, I loved sitting in my crib, even when the bars would fall out, I never tried to escape. I just sat there. I just don't have a lot of drive, and I'm very happy with myself, where I am." I think I finally am staring to understand why he's just not getting what I want to explain. He doesn't want to. So anyway, this is the story I came up with, which I think I also incorporated every conversation we have ever had, and more in. Enjoy.

              -Adam 

Baby Crib.

Once upon a time there was a nursery full of newborn babies. These babies lived in their cribs every day and every night. As you can immagine, babies wreak all sorts of havoc on their cribs, especially the bars of their cage. (At least these babies do for the purposes of the story... so bear with me) Some babies rattle on the bars, and some don’t, but eventually every crib starts to deteriorate. So this room has a peculiar system set up. Every day the babies open their cribs and get in their strollers and power themselves over to one of the broken cribs and work together to repair the crib. Once they do this, the nurse maid comes in and feeds each of the babies who worked with some formula.
     One day, one of the quieter babies started staring at the bars of the cage. No not at them, through them. He couldn’t have explained what he was searching for, because he had no idea what he could be searching for. He had lived in cribs and had repaired cribs his entire life. But now something was nagging at him.
     So he went up to the adjacent baby and said, “I think I want to go outside the crib for a while.”
     “You what?” Said the other baby. “Why? What could possibly be out there? We get fed in here. Do you see the way that woman has to clean the floor every day? There are germs all over it that could destroy us, and how would we get food? Don’t throw your life away!”
     “Boy, If you put it that way, it sounds horrible. I don't know... I just don’t want to spend my  life repairing cages.”
     “Thats fine, you don't have to repair cages. There are lots of things you can do! There are more opportunities then ever before. You can repair strollers, you can teach other babies how to repair cages, or if you are really lucky, you can write songs about your feelings about being in a cage repair world.
     "Hmm... thats weird, but I just don't feel like doing any of those things..."
     "Well, thats life buddy. I guess you just have go to find your own way to to make yourself happy. But think about how lucky we are to be here and to be getting fed. Look at me for instance. I never wanted to do anything special like design cages, or study cage theory, or be a lawyer defending cage workers in baby litigation cases. I'm  just happy to sit here all day in my cage, and fix other babies cages. It gives me such enjoyment. Remember that time when the bars of my cage all fell down and I could have crawled out. Well, I didn’t. I was totally happy just to sit here behind bars, and I am today too. Thats the way I am.”
     "Cool, I'm really happy for you, and I think I understand you better now. I really do. I just hope I can find something in this society that can make me happy one day like you are too."
     "Don't worry, you will. Everybody does."
      
     So the two babies lived on for a while until both got bigger. The more inquisitive one seemed to always be messing up his bars. He hung on them, he pushed them. And when he slept his feet crashed into them. As did most of the other now larger babies as well. And worst of all, the feelings of discontentment never went away. In fact they got worse.
     Because of this increased wear and tear from the new largeness of the babies, the baby society had to work that much harder to repair their cages, and work that much more frequently as well. And then our more discontented baby, perhaps for the first time ever had a coherent thought. A tremendous thought actually. It was a trememdous thought because this thought explained something that had been explained to him his entire life many times but now explained it differently. His thought was that maybe as the babies grew older and got bigger, nothing was wrong with the bars at all! Maybe the bars were actually fulfilling their purpose, which was to break and let the babies out. He looked around and couldn't believe his eyes. The world was different, and everything made sense. Everything! Maybe the bars breaking were actually a good thing. and that all was working just as it should.
     So with this, the baby reared back and let out a tremendous kick, and the bars went flying, shattering to all sides of the room. All of the other babies turned their heads and hopped in their strollers, now with their feet dangling over the edges, and came over to help repair his crib.
     “We are here to help you get your cage back together.” said the babies cheerfully as they handed him back the bars of his crib.
     “Look everyone I’m really appreciative for you all of you being here and wanting to help but I think I’m going to leave my cage. I want to go down to the floor. I'm sorry, this has been a lot of work keeping my cage repaired, and I’m just really tired, and I don’t want to do it anymore. I just need something different.”
     The other babies stared at him.
     And then the other baby who loved repairing bars finally spoke up. “What do you mean? How could you not want to stay in your beautiful cage we have all set up for you. Look how comfortable it is. Look at how happy and well fed we all are with this lifestyle we all live.' All the babies nodded and looked at the inquisitive baby for a response.
     "Yeah, yeah, I know and thats really great! It really is." Said the baby standing in his shattered cage. "Its awsome, and I have been very comfy. And I'm thankful. I just don't think its for me, thats all. I'm totally cool with you staying living like this, but I think I just might want to try something else for a while."
     “Maybe there is something else you can do in life. Think about this... Harry over here the other day was unhappy with mattress repair, and has gone into stroller traffic enforcement recently. He seems much happier. Right Harry?"
     "Righto!" Said Harry.
     "See, you've got to learn to balance your passions and your interests with your obligation to your society."
     "Look, I've helped all of you, right? And you've helped me. I'm not really asking anything of you right now. I just want to go check out the floor for a while. I promise that if I need something from you and I have to come back I'll totally do work for you to get it."
     "But thats not really the point. Look how comfortable we are. That we are so comfortable in our cribs, proves that we are not meant to be on the floor, or else we would see more babies on the floor! And there aren't any. What we have here is a resounding success! Just look around.” said the baby. "This is the way the world is meant to be."
     “Ummm... I'm not really arguing that, you know, just keep it up. Its great! I'm just saying I don't  personally want a cage anymore. I just kinda want to be on the floor. I know that is kinda weird sounding, and I thank you for your concern but I just want to see what is down there. Thats all. Thanks guys for caring.”
     The babies were quiet once again and glanced at each other. An uncomfortable silence fell over the nursery.
     “In this community,” they started, “We all help each other repair our cribs to survive. Without that we have nothing. No food, no nothing. We have repaired cribs since the beginning of time, when we were born into this world, two months ago. We have worked hard to make sure everyone is safe, and we work together to make sure everyone stays safe. We are worried about you. Look, since the moment of our birth we have repaired these cages. Our purpose in life is to keep these bars standing, and in good shape so we can live like babies are meant to live. In cages. That is all of our purpose."
     "I don't know. I look at it a different way. I imagine that the cages are breaking for a reason and as we get bigger they are supposed to break and let us out to floor naturally at our own time, and then we are supposed to go around and explore the floor."
     The babies seemed disquieted by that last explanation.
     "Where the hell did you learn that?"
     "I read it in 'Ishmael', by Daniel Quinn."
     "What? Who is this author anyway? Is he some expert on crib dynamics or something? Who taught him anything anyway? Why would you jeoprodize everything we have worked for by listening to this crap? We know you have never quite been content with life but you have got to get over your eagerness to trust the first think that appeals to you. That is very nieve."
     "Wait, why I am nieve? I don't get it. You haven't given me even one reason why babies couldn't have just as easily have been born to break out of the cages then to live in them! There is no reason why my story isn't any more valid then yours!"
     "Ah I see. If babies were made to break out of cages, then why would god have made the world with cages in the first place? Why when we look around there is nothing but babies in cages."
     "I don't know, maybe its god's way of keeping us safe and then showing us when the perfect time to begin crawling on the floor would be."
     "Thats absurd! Look at this world! THIS WORLD!! Its a crib world! Nobody would ever in a million years go along with your story."
     "Why not? Just because they DO believe in yours at the moment doesn't mean that they can't ever believe mine! Ugh... your getting me off topic. I'm NOT TRYING To get anyone on my side or believe my story. I just want to see what's down on the floor. You can totally live in your cages if you want. Its fine. Its cool. I don't really give a crap, and I fully support you in what you want to keep doing. Really."
     The other baby paused for a long while then finally spoke. "If you leave, and go to the floor and don’t help us fix our cages, then you damage the workings of the entire community. You need to learn to live in this community. And if other babies followed you, you would risk all of our cages. If you aren’t a team player and don’t help us fix all our cages, our cages will suffer and you’ll bring all of us down.”
     “But its going to be more and more work as you grow up anyway and eventually you’ll all just fall out whether you want to or not! Just  look at how much bigger we are then we used to be!  How could we possibly keep this up forever anyway?!”
     "Have you no faith in this baby society? Look at all we have done, and where we have come from! Look at all the ingenious tools we use now to speed up the repairs. Look how we have redesigned our cribs to be repaired easily. How difficult did it used to be when a bar fell off to repair it? Now its done in a few minutes, where it would have taken half a day. Life is getting so much better, and its getting better all the time. I mean, we have developed power tools for gods sake!”
     “Yeah but the bars hardly ever fell out before since we were so small...”
     The baby went on. “You can count on one thing. There will always be amazing new technologies and innovations arriving to keep us in our cages. There always have and their always will.”
     “Well then, how are we going to fit in our cages if we are bigger then the cages themselves one day?” the inquisitive baby said slightly exasperated now.
     “Maybe we will expand to other rooms to harvest new materials to make bigger cages. Or maybe one day we'll even find a way to live partially in other dimensions so our bodies will take up less physical space in this one. I don’t know but we’ll come up with something. The future is limitless!”
     “Ok, I got it. But the thing is this. I just don’t want that future. I want to explore the floor!”
     “Look, you are not being a team player here. This isn’t all about you. Maybe you need to learn to balance your passions with your obligations. Try some zen... Oh, Ok, I have an idea, how about if you just hang out over the edge of your crib and stare out at the floor for a while each day, and the rest of the time you can make baby carriage wheels. Thats easy, and isn't a lot of work. Perfect for you! How about that?"
     "No..."
     The worker baby sighed. "Do you have any idea how much we are worrying about you right now. You need to work with us here. Thoughts like this jeopradize our entire society. Why don’t you be a team player like everyone else?”
     “I don’t want to be a team player! I don’t even want this team anymore!”
     “Well thats not very good of you is it? And what about us? What about us working here Huh? What if everyone suddenly stopped working? Where would we be then? This society is held together with work. If people stopped working hard, we would have a million broken cages with babies falling on the floor every day! How could you live with yourself?! Do you ever think that what you do could affect others? Do you ever think of the consequences of your actions? Your in a nursery wide society, and you have got to think of what the needs of that society are. Why don't you try thinking someone besides yourself once in a while.”
     "Oh my god! Holy Crap, Dude. I'm just saying I want to explore the floor for a bit. I don't mean to get your cowlicks all in a huff or anything. I'm not trying to ruin your party or anything like the other babies a few days ago did when they refused to work because they never got play time."
     "Will you stop and just look at these bars!? Just look at them! I love these bars. I live for them and I won't allow anything to happen to them for some crackpot idea, like what you are saying right now! You will not jeoprodise my bars."
     “Listen to me, you can keep your damn bars! OK?! I don't care. I just don't want your bars anymore. You can totally keep it up. Thats fine, but I’m so out of here.
     The other babies stared silently after this outburst and did not move. There was an incredibly long moment of silence. Possibly the longest and most awkward of his young inquisitive life. 
     The other baby started slowly, “I think maybe we need to have a different discussion. You are clearly not in your right mind. It seems like you are a danger to not only yourself, but to all of us as well. Maybe you need some time to think about this. Behind bars.”
     “What?! What are you saying? Are you saying you are going to lock me up?!”
     “You are clearly not thinking straight. Remember, this will be for your own good.”
     “Whoah boy! Ok, Thats it!” So the baby rammed the other side of his cage clearing an escape route away from the gathering of babies in front of him. Metal rained down and showered clanking crib pieces all over the floor. Before he jumped, he turned just in time to see the alarm in all of the other babies eyes. He felt at that moment a pang of regret. He could see the fear in their eyes, and their love and concern for what he was about to do. They truly were concerned about him. “Thank you for all you did for me. I love you guys. And I always will.  But I have to do this. I hope you can understand and forgive me one day.”
     He jumped onto the floor. The other babies burst into tears, fearful and confused at what they had just witnessed. 
     "I hope I'm right!" he thought to himself just before hitting the floor!

              -By Adam