# Poem -- Surprise Ending! **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 16, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387 "2005-11-16T21:20:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hopesperson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@hopesperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hopesperson)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/1 "2005-11-16T21:20:53Z")
I just couldn’t keep this to myself any longer. Here’s hoping this is the correct forum. In the poem _Footsteps in the Sand_ by Mary Stevenson, the narrator, who is walking along the beach with the Lord and reviewing scenes from her life, notices that during the most trying periods of her life there had only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, she wonders, had the Lord not been there for her when she needed Him most? The answer, revealed in the spoiler box below, may surprise you: It was because those were the times when the Lord carried her (hence only the one set of prints)! Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/2 "2005-11-16T21:28:44Z")
> [@hopesperson](#): > > I just couldn’t keep this to myself any longer. Here’s hoping this is the correct forum. > > In the poem _Footsteps in the Sand_ by Mary Stevenson, the narrator, who is walking along the beach with the Lord and reviewing scenes from her life, notices that during the most trying periods of her life there had only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, she wonders, had the Lord not been there for her when she needed Him most? > > The answer, revealed in the spoiler box below, may surprise you: > > It was because those were the times when the Lord carried her (hence only the one set of prints)! > > Brilliant! With all due respect, I don’t believe too many readers of this forum will be surprised. That poem is well-known to the point of parody. ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/3 "2005-11-16T22:54:30Z")
He was doing shots of Jamaican rum at the resort bar? ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/4 "2005-11-16T23:00:04Z")
What does god need with footprints? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/5 "2005-11-16T23:00:12Z")
> [@hopesperson](#): > > I just couldn’t keep this to myself any longer. Here’s hoping this is the correct forum.[/spoiler] > > Brilliant! Serious note: **hopesperson** , Great Debates is the forum for religious discussion and witnessing. I’ll ask a mod to move it for you. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/6 "2005-11-16T23:16:04Z")
How large were the Lord’s footprints? (I wanna surprise him with some nice boots for Diwali.) While you’re getting back to me with that answer, I’m gonna move this on over to GD. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/7 "2005-11-16T23:27:07Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > How large were the Lord’s footprints? (I wanna surprise him with some nice boots for Diwali.) > > While you’re getting back to me with that answer, I’m gonna move this on over to GD. Wha? What do you want us to debate here? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/8 "2005-11-16T23:28:46Z")
[The mandatory Onion article](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/34168) > [@Onion](#): > > See the footprints at the time of my divorce? You’ll notice that the sandaled footprints drift off from the docksider ones. They lead to that picnic bench over there, the one with the cigarette butts scattered all over. It appears that in my darkest hour, instead of carrying me, you sat on a stump and had a couple of smokes. Real helpful, Jesus. Real helpful. > > Sure, the sandal footprints came back when I got that big job promotion, but right at the point where my son Tommy died, they veer off again. Actually, now that I look again, it seems like there’s an unusually large distance between each of the sandal-wearer’s footprints around the time of my son’s death, as if the person were actually running away. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/9 "2005-11-16T23:32:11Z")
Okay, a proposition. Though schmaltzy and egregious to the point of glurginess, “Footprints” does say something worthwhile, and not necessarily religious in nature: Perception does not always equate to reality, and in particular when an emotional “down” is involved. Sometimes one just cannot see the support that actually is proferred. Debate. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/10 "2005-11-16T23:32:41Z")
> [@treis](#): > > Wha? What do you want us to debate here? It’s religious. Religious goes in GD almost by default. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/11 "2005-11-16T23:40:38Z")
I’m basically a bad person and I so want to make fun of this, but the OP is just so damn _earnest_ that I just don’t have the heart. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/12 "2005-11-16T23:50:39Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Perception does not always equate to reality, and in particular when an emotional “down” is involved. Couldn’t agree more. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/13 "2005-11-16T23:52:28Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > It’s religious. Religious goes in GD almost by default. But it’s a poem, and poems go in CS. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2005, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/14 "2005-11-16T23:58:38Z")
I want to know if God could make sand so pliable that even he could not make footprints in it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/15 "2005-11-17T00:01:45Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > But it’s a poem, and poems go in CS. Oh, yeah? Well, it takes place on a beach and obviously conversation about vacation places goes in IMHO! Wait. No. That came out wrong. ---
**Author:** ![hopesperson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@hopesperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hopesperson)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/16 "2005-11-17T00:11:56Z")
My apologies for mixing up the forum. I actually meant for the OP to be in MPSIMS – not meant to be a debate, too dumb for CS. I saw this poem on a co-worker’s desk this afternoon. I hadn’t seen it in a while, and for some reason it struck me as particularly silly today, “surprise” ending and all (no offense intended). I should have made the tone more clear. Anyway, I will now retreat back to my cave in Lurkdom. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/17 "2005-11-17T00:15:12Z")
> [@hopesperson](#): > > I hadn’t seen it in a while, and for some reason it struck me as particularly silly today, “surprise” ending and all (no offense intended). I should have made the tone more clear. Ahhhhh. Sarcasm _never_ works over the Internet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/18 "2005-11-17T00:45:14Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > I want to know if God could make sand so pliable that even he could not make footprints in it. Or could he make a poem so glurgey that even he couldn’t stand to read it? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/19 "2005-11-17T00:57:00Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Or could he make a poem so glurgey that even he couldn’t stand to read it? [Yes.](http://hobbes.ncsa.uiuc.edu/desiderata.html) ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387/20 "2005-11-17T01:39:57Z")
It’s still a good lesson. Sometimes, even in the darkest hours, step back from yourself, and realize you’re not alone. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poem-surprise-ending/331387.md?page=2)