A Word On Statistics.
I’m under the weather this week so sharing something a little different.
‘A Word On Statistics’ is a beautiful poem that part satirises and part marvels at the way in which we view, judge and understand each other as humans. I felt the last line in my heart.
It’s written by Polish poet Wisława Szymborska and translated into English by Joanna Trzeciak. You can also listen to it here (I highly recommend it).
A Word on Statistics
Out of every hundred people
those who always know better:
fifty-two.
Unsure of every step:
nearly all the rest.
Ready to help,
as long as it doesn’t take long:
forty-nine.
Always good,
because they cannot be otherwise:
four—well, maybe five.
Able to admire without envy:
eighteen.
Led to error
by youth (which passes):
sixty, plus or minus.
Those not to be messed with:
forty and four.
Living in constant fear
of someone or something:
seventy-seven.
Capable of happiness:
twenty-some-odd at most.
Harmless alone,
turning savage in crowds:
more than half, for sure.
Cruel
when forced by circumstances:
it’s better not to know
not even approximately.
Wise in hindsight:
not many more
than wise in foresight.
Getting nothing out of life but things:
thirty
(although I would like to be wrong).
Doubled over in pain,
without a flashlight in the dark:
eighty-three,
sooner or later.
Those who are just:
quite a few at thirty-five.
But if it takes effort to understand:
three.
Worthy of empathy:
ninety-nine.
Mortal:
one hundred out of one hundred—
a figure that has never varied yet.
“The motivational speakers and self-help books are all wrong: there is no way of creating a life where we are full participants one hundred percent of the time. There is no way of being fully human without at times being fully stuck or even completely absent; we are simply not made that way.”
- David Whyte
Tipping Point: sharing information on the climate crisis
This series of short videos pairs a climate scientist with a comedian for a fun and startling way to understand what we’re facing. This one is with Dr. Fredi Otto from Imperial College London and Nish Kumar.
About me.
I’m a leadership coach, consultant and facilitator living in Berlin.
Contact me to:
Make sense of what’s going on in your organisation through our Human At Work group programme.
Make sense of what’s going on with you, your work and your life through my coaching practice.
Have a real conversation.
At the heart of my work is helping individuals and organisations to figure out what is really going on.
You can also find out more about my work with men & masculinity here.