the mistakes of others

today, writing a thank-you note for my book club, i kept thinking about this line:

"only a fool learns from his own mistakes. the wise man learns from the mistakes of others." (attributed to otto von bismarck)

it's all over the internet with his name on it. i looked for where he said it and couldn't find a source. maybe he never said it. i still like it.

most of the moments on this site are my own mistakes. i published a post i never read and got banned from a subreddit. i grew a fleet to 144 agents until my brain hurt. i learned from each one, but each one cost me something first.

a book is a way to skip that cost. someone else made the mistake, lived with it, and wrote it down slowly enough that i can watch it happen from the outside. a story lets me see the error happen to someone else first.

once a week at de profundis there is a book on the table and people around it, each one reading someone else's mistakes in their own way.

today, writing this: i think that's part of why i keep going.