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Remember that hole in the ground,
The one we always used to walk around?
Yeah, you know, the one we couldn't see the bottom of.
Well, you've probably been wondering where I've been for so long...I fell in.
Just kinda casually fell in.
It wasn't altogether uncomfortable.
Actually, some parts were downright pleasant,
And as for the darker and lonelier spots,
Well, I fell through them soon enough.
My fall was slow enough so I didn't panic.
Hell, I wasn't even worried.
When I hit the bottom, it didn't hurt.
I wasn't scared.
Some of our friends tried to throw me lifelines, plead with me to climb out.
All I did was curl up in a ball and ignore them.
They hurled stones of anger, but they just bounced off my back.
They cried tears of frustration, but they just evaporated to nothing.
Eventually, they left me alone.  It was what I wanted.  I liked it in the hole.
The world seemed too bright, too big out of the hole.
I liked it so much, I dug myself deeper.  I stayed that way a long, long time.
One day, I had the thought that if I kept digging, I might come out in China.
I looked up.
The top was so far away.  It was just a pinhole.
And I realized, I'd been gone some time.
And I realized, I was lonely in that hole.
And I realized, I wanted to go back up.
And I realized, there was only me left to help myself now.
So I curled up again.  I wasn't ready.  I could help myself when I wanted.
I was comfortable.
But one day, I bolted.  I knew if I didn't move, I'd just fade away in that hole.
It would be my grave.
I bolted upward, scrabbling up the dirt walls.  I wanted out.  I was scared.
Sometimes I slipped, fell back, hit the bottom, started over.
Sometimes I stopped, caught my breath, rested.
Then, one day, I made it.  Climbed over the edge, rolled over the ground.
My god, the air smelled good.
My god, it was scary up here.
My god, I was a dirty, pathetic wreck.
But I had found strength in me I never knew was there.
The world was so much more beautiful than I remembered.  So much bigger.
I wandered around a bit.  Nervous.  Confused.
You know what?  There are other holes.
Sometimes I lean over, squint down into their depths.
It reminds me.  I'm so thankful I crawled out of my hole.
But sometimes, sometimes, when I lean over,
The urge to fall in again is so consuming it makes me dizzy.
It is so powerful.  So frightening.
I've found other people here.
Some are like me, a little lost, a little scared, still wiping away the dirt.
If I am stumbling at the edge of a hole, I call out and they come rescue me.
I have to call out.  I can't forget to, or I might fall in again.
I don't want to go back in there.  Ever.
The hole is the strongest thing I've ever known.
The worst thing I've ever known.
Hey, did you know I saw you yesterday?
No, probably not.  You didn't see me.  You were too distracted.
You were looking intently into a hole.