In medias res (“Into the midst of things”)

Here’s a famous quote of a man at the beginning of a journey. Or at least the story:

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard a thing it is to tell what a wild, and rough, and stubborn wood this was, which in my thought renews the fear!

This is Dante (the writer and the character in the story) at the beginning of the Inferno.  A long journey, that eventually leads to Paradise.

In our work, our innovation, our building of products, do we always start in the middle? I think so, quite often.

In our work, once we realize that we have started, don’t we feel we have already lost the straight and narrow path, the good path?  I think yes, commonly.

And we feel lost in the woods.

Have some compassion.

Maybe New England compassion. A few words, and then back to work.  But some compassion.

We do not always feel this way. It will not always be this way.  But oft enough, it is so for a while.  We have that fear.  And we must be courageous.

***

Another lesson.  Never be surprised again that we are starting in the middle.  It is really the normal place that we start.  Since 1300 AD.

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