A popular urban legend records an interesting exchange
of messages on a foggy night at sea:
“We
are on a collision course, advise you to change course 20 degrees."
"Advisable
for you to change course 20 degrees."
“I'm
a Captain, change course 20 degrees."
"I'm
a seaman second class. You better change course 20 degrees."
“I'm
a battleship. Change course 20 degrees. Now!"
"I'm
a lighthouse. Your Call!"
Although the story is fictional, the analogy holds a
valuable lesson in the unimportance of self-importance. Many of us are
like the Captain... full of our own overestimated ego. It is said that road
rage in a driver is proportionate to the size, speed and cost of the vehicle
that he is driving. The same applies to every case of the 'infallibility' of
power.
Surely, understanding eludes us due to the looming
prejudice that comes from being self-centred around one’s situation and
position. We do not bother to explore possibilities to understand the circumstances.
The story demonstrates the intractability of some listeners and the
overwhelming need for flexibility. A
columnist Russ Linden wrote of the lesson: ‘We're blind unless we know who
we're talking to. While it is the captain's ship, it's most definitely not his
ocean’
We must be better at understanding the significance
of situational responsiveness by escaping the clutches of prejudice born of
undue self-indulgence. We need to pay heed to the other side and be open-minded
to consider possibilities in the predicament. For it is in those very
possibilities that we shall discover the potential of clarity. After all, it is
our call!
BE BETTER at escaping the self-importance fall
Pay
heed to the other side, for it is your call!
- Pravin K. Sabnis
Goa, India.
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