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Prepared in Advance

We often explain failure with hindsight: we could not foresee it, we were unprepared, we misjudged.
Yet beneath those words lies a deeper question—what does it truly mean to be prepared?
This poem traces the many shades of “not knowing,” and asks whether preparation is less about prediction,
and more about the cultivation of people, judgment, and responsibility before a crisis arrives.

Prepared in Advance

We did not foresee it—
how we should respond to this situation.
Even the preparations for it were delayed.

We could not predict it—
how this situation should be handled.
We had not a single experience to rely upon.

We could imagine it—
what kind of outcome this situation might bring.
Yet we had no measures to prevent its harm.

We sensed it—
how this situation might be avoided.
But we were far too inexperienced
to grasp even the direction.

Our forecasts proved wrong—
how we had invited this situation.
Our judgment was dangerously naïve.

We should have been forewarned—
what ought to have been done
before falling into this state.
We lacked the necessary resolve
and were left with regret.

We should have anticipated it—
how we ought to have prepared ourselves.
Our expectations were utterly betrayed.

There was no room for presumption—
how to face and resolve this situation.
What was truly being tested
was whether we had prepared in advance
those who could respond.

Note:
Forehearing (yobun) — to be informed in advance; to be involved in a matter and cooperate with it.

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