I am a Toy

I am a toy, factory packed into this brightly coloured box that has been okayed by society and siting safely on the shelf in an aisle full of toys that look, smell and sound similar to myself. I have a barcode which identifies me, defines me; although very few of my potential buyers would have noticed what it is and those who have probably won’t remember it.

I have watched men come in and out of this shop, selecting a toy an examining it from head to toe. They do this with many of the toys until they find one that they like. These toys are lucky. They will be bought, taken out of their boxes, dressed up and taken out for a night on the town. They will be wooed and spoilt, their owners paying for their food, opening their doors and treating them like royalty. But just like so many others, they will eventually become boring or be deemed ‘not good enough’ and replaced. They will end up, discarded, in second hand stores or broken and lying in a corner. 

Some of them, very few of them, will be bought by ‘the right guy’ first time around and will never be discarded. Others will pick themselves up, mend their broken hearts and find a way out of the broken toys box where they hope to find an owner who will treat them right. Those in second hand shops will eventually be rebought although their value would have depreciated substantially. And others still will sit on that shelf all their lives, never being good enough to be bought, probably working their way down into the ‘sale’ rack or even the ‘final clearance’ bin. 

It comes down to this one simple thing though, if you’re not looking to keep, don’t buy and if you’re not looking to buy, stay out of the shop.