Life's Lessons

From time to time, I like to think back on the events and decisions that helped me develop as a person. We do not always know, at the time, the consequences of our actions. In some cases we choose well and our experiences bring us happy memories. In other cases our decisions have far reaching and unintended consequences. The decision I am about to describe resides in the unintended consequences file. The events related in this essay are true to the best of my knowledge. My memory is not always reliable but in this case, constant reminders (to be elaborated upon in due time) prevent this particular event from ever being forgotton.

So, to set the stage: a long time ago in a land far away, I chose to confront a deeply held fear. The time, in the mid 1980's, and the place, Hawaii, became a proving ground of sorts. The U.S. Navy sent me to Hawaii, where I was assigned as a crew member of the ship U.S.S Joseph Strauss (DDG-16) a guided Missile Destroyer. This was my second tour in the navy, my first tour ending in the late 1970's. I fully intended to make the best of this assignment.

During this period of my life, I had something to prove. My antagonist and competition was a man whom I will call Fred. I worked very hard to prove my worth as a technician and leader, Fred was lazy and lucky. I knew I had skills and did my best to gain attention, Fred seemed to gain attention effortlessly. By now, I think my readers get the point, so on to the story.

Fred, other Strauss shipmates, and I were picnicking at a little known waterfall in the middle of Oahu, just outside of Honolulu. Picture a 30 to 40 foot cliff with a small pool at the bottom of the falls, all surrounded by trees. On the clifftop, attached to a large tree, was a rope. The idea was to pull the rope as high up the cliff as possible, grab the rope, swing, and drop in the pool. Simple in theory, difficult in execution.

The fear I spoke of earlier involved heights and falling. The rope and cliff represented, to quote Tom Clancy, "The sum of all fears". I had no intention of getting anywhere near either one. Fred, on the other hand, coolly and calmly, ascended the heights, swung out and dropped effortlessly into the water. All present saw and approved of his daring deed. So, in true "if he can do that, so can I" fashion, I too, climbed the cliff for my turn at glory.

I had not thought this idea through, but I had committed myself and could not back down. Standing at the top made the cliff look even steeper. The distance from launching point to release was at least fifty feet or so. However, it seemed much longer from my vantage point. Once more I considered backing down, but instead chose to proceed. Summoning all of my courage, I backed up and launched myself into the air.

Bad decision. I had not grabbed the rope high enough to safely clear the rocks. In desperation, I arched my body enough to escape the first disaster, only to find myself facing another. At the furthest extent of the swing, I was (I thought) too high over the water to safely drop. Choice two, was also unappealing. I could swing back over the rocks, from where I had previously escaped. With two equally bad choices in front of me I faced my fear of falling head on.

I dropped. After too long of a descent I hit the water. The entry that would have rated a 0.1 in an Olympic dive competition knocked the wind out of me. Without panic (I could not breathe well enough to panic) I floated toward the shore. As luck would have it, I reached the bottom of the cliff where moss covered the rocks. Winded and in pain, I pulled myself up, only to discover that I had broken a finger when my hand hit the rope knot during decent. In my weakened state, of course, my foot slipped and hit the rocks, breaking a toe.

Eventually, I made it out of the water and back to my friends, none of whom had seen any part of my performance.

On to the moral of the story. Paraphrasing Forest Gump  "Foolish is as foolish does", could, but does not quite cover it. What did I learn from this misadventure?

"You have only yourself to blame".

Until next time.

semccoy