In my defense I didn’t know.
In my defense I assumed I knew better than the professionals than those with experience
than those that had been provided super secret information
that I had not been privy to.
I figured I knew best,
in my defense.

To be honest,
I’m used to being surrounded by Yes Men.
To be honest,
I’d been used to being told I was right
over and over again.
To be honest,
my prior experience in the field
did not put a premium on honesty
and it had never served me particularly well,
so I dropped it from my bag of tricks.
Doing so
has usually gotten me pretty far,
to be honest.

Who could have expected it would be so difficult?
Who could have imagined it was so complex?
Who could have thought that others
who are paid for their experience
in any number of areas that I’ve not previously dabbled
might have expertise in those areas of experience
that would conflict with my own expertise?
Who would predict
they might advise me
contrary to my own earlier assumptions?

Nobody asks these questions
and I don’t know why.
Why has no one come to me
with these sort of questions
before now?
I’ll tell you something:
it’s lonely at the top.