I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost … I am helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I am in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in … it’s a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down another street.
Thanks for posting this—you can’t know things until you know them. Also: “Good judgment is learned by experience. Experience is gotten by having bad judgment.”, but it’s good to see the process of working your way around to being kind to your past self by way of science.
I’d seen the poem about the hole quoted anonymously, but when I looked it up to post it, the first links were embarrassingly religious or stupid. The link I ended up with is a collection of poems by Portia Nelson—most of them are about the amusing tangles people get themselves into, with relatively little about getting out of them.
I love this poem deeply. I have taken to using “I’m in Chapter N” among people who know it as a shorthand for where I am in that process. (I taught it to a therapist once, in the same spirit.)
Practical Retroactive Cognition: An Autobiography in Five Short Chapters
Chapter 1
I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost … I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter 2
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter 3
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there. I still fall in … it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Chapter 4
I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Chapter 5
I walk down another street.
Thanks for posting this—you can’t know things until you know them. Also: “Good judgment is learned by experience. Experience is gotten by having bad judgment.”, but it’s good to see the process of working your way around to being kind to your past self by way of science.
I’d seen the poem about the hole quoted anonymously, but when I looked it up to post it, the first links were embarrassingly religious or stupid. The link I ended up with is a collection of poems by Portia Nelson—most of them are about the amusing tangles people get themselves into, with relatively little about getting out of them.
I love this poem deeply. I have taken to using “I’m in Chapter N” among people who know it as a shorthand for where I am in that process. (I taught it to a therapist once, in the same spirit.)