Some time ago, I read the below ‘Autobiography in Five Short Chapters’ on someone’s blog and I smiled at the concise, clean and clear presentation being able to bring such great truth. Who needs another 400 page book on the shelf if all can be summed up this way:
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.
~ Portia Nelson ~
(There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk)
Every one is on a journey; sometimes gently crushing the leaves underneath one’s feet, sometimes hiking steep and rocky hills, sometimes gripping with all the might in the toes to not slip from an icy trail down, sometimes walking as slow as a turtle, sometimes running as fast as the wind, down the main street in a village, or a broad avenue with willows planted on either side, a tiny creepy alley in an old neighborhood or a colorful and peaceful little lane in the old city heart. Sometimes we walk in water, sometimes we walk in mud, sometimes we walk in elephant’s dung, and sometimes we walk high heeled on a red carpet. Throughout our journey, there are many ways we walk. And along with us, there are many walking their ways. And even if we walk down the same street every day, those who walk with us are not the same.
And so… as we walk down the street, and the other walks down the street, we all may see that there is a hole in the sidewalk. However, we each are on our own journey and the way you deal with the hole in the sidewalk will be different from the way the person who happens to be walking down the street with you deals with it. Even when it seems evident to you that the best way to walk is to walk down another street, the other person may fall in after all, or pretend not to see it, or may still fall in habitually. Every person on the street is in a different chapter of his walk. And until he is in chapter five, he will walk through all the previous chapters. Not because you did not warn him, or because you did not call him to stop, but because it is his journey and he will only come to chapter five after passing all the previous ones. And all you can do is to enclose the person with compassion (not pity!) for where the person is in his journey.
