I’ve been down here before and I know the way out

I was watching West Wing over the Christmas break and there was episode where a character with PTSD after being shot (Josh) went to see a Head Doctor. When he came out Leo was waiting for him - an Alcoholic - and he told him this story:

    This guy is walking down a street when he falls in a hole, the walls are so steep he can’t get out. A Doctor passes by and the guy shouts out “Hey you, can you help me out”. The Doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on.

   Then a Priest come along and the guy shouts out “Father, I am down in this hole, can you help me out?”. The Priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole then moves on.

   Then a friend walks by “Hey Joe, it’s me, can you help me out?” and the friend jumps in the hole. The guy says “Are you stupid, now we are both down here?”

The friend says “Yeah, but I’ve been down here before and I know the way out"

"I've been down here before and I know the way out" - got me right in the feels.


You don't have to experience exactly what another person is going through to relate to their problems. Back in the past I dabbled a bit in acting and a couple of the classes that I did were the Sanford Meisner techniques and the Stanislavski method. This story might not be 100% correct but it is relatable here, supposedly Stanislavski was training in Method Acting, the one where someone stays in character all the time and can tend to really annoy the other actors as they cannot turn it off when the camera's are off - simplifying this because I like simple so no need to correct me Jonno :). Anyway, there was a scene where he was meant to be looking at a friends grave and "emoting" or words to that effect. The coach at the time thought he did an awesome job and asked hime when he had lost a friend, Stanislavski replied that he had not, he just related the scene to something else. The acting coach was rather annoyed at this as that was not how it was meant to work, he was not using the correct method. However Stanislavski got to the emotional place he needed to go by comparing the situation to something else - so the story goes (that I might have completely wrong). He related to the event.

It's not that difficult to relate to someone's pain, we have all had pain at some point in time.

I know this story to be true as it is one of mine :) I was in Queenstown NZ in 1990 doing the show Godspell, the character I played was Judas/John the Baptist. There is a scene where I would bugger off stage - something to do with the last supper and some gold I think - and I sat off the rehearsal stage with a 1,000 yard stare. This upset the cast onstage (apparently) as they were getting all verklempt and I was off in James land. The Director asked me to relate the betrayal that occurred to something more personal (betraying my best friend) versus betraying someone I didn't really know that well and it all clicked. It seems so obvious now but back then I was blocked on the connection to reality, the thought of betraying my best friend gave the scene reality to me. By the way it was an awesome production, awesome cast and I had a ball.

You don't have to have been stuck in the exact same hole as someone else to know how to get out.

I am in no, way, shape or form a rational person who can be relied on for anything at all, however I am a person that can lend an ear. Sometimes the flow of information to said ear just flows straight out the other ear without any comprehension however some times the supplied information can get trapped in the gray matter and will elicit an intelligent and lucid response. I don't pretend to be a smart man in the ways of the world and there are many things that I disagree with people on, or don't give quite so much of a flying piece of excrement about, however I will do my best to listen and give helpful input, or listen and just listen some more as the case may be. Chances are that I will have a silly story to amuse or deflect or to provide context but since my hourly rate is $0 and I am usually providing the beer in the first place there really is no room for complaint :) Just know I am ready to jump in that hole with you, and if it is a new hole to both of us then we will work together to get out.


I apologize that this weeks post was not witty and scattered with curse words so I will refund this weeks dues to all of you who are paid subscribers (except for you Mom, you don't get a refund). I am guessing many of you are glad I didn't use the 'R' word, some are surprised and some are still wondering why they bother reading this in the first place. I just wanted to let my friends know (and most of the people that tell me that they read these posts are my friends, lying to me, but my friends anyway) that if you ever need me to I am going to jump in that hole with you, no matter when, no matter where and together we will get out. Also note that this weeks post is not directed at anyone specifically, it was inspired purely by a Netflix binge over the holidays however the sentiment rings true every day. I've been down here before and I know the way out - just give me a shout.

Work hard, play hard and earn your inspiration


Happy Poets Day.