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Message From: shabbarsuterwala |
Total Posts: 17 |
Join Date: |
| Rank: Executive |
Post Date: 13/07/2006 19:15:46 |
Points: 85 |
Location: India |
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The galley had been sailing the seas of
Greece for two weeks when a terrible storm
blew up.
No one in living memory could remember
having seen such a grim and foreboding sky -
black as ebony, heavy as lead and threatening
like the army of Erinyes, the God of Wind.
This was the period when navigating against
the wind was unknown. One could only navigate
with the wind astern.
The sails curved and inflated and were
driven by the furious Wind God.
Armatios, the captain, tried to keep calm:
he wanted to be everywhere at once: at the
bow to motivate the sailors, at the foot of
the mast to oversee the lowering of the
heavy sail a little; but he had to remain
at the stern to keep the vessel on course
with the heavy rudder.
He shouted his orders but these were lost
in the wind and tumbled into the rolling sea.
Suddenly the fury of the elements caused
one of the ropes holding the sail to slip.
"Captain! captain! the sail has come adrift,
what shall we do? We will be crushed on the
submerged reefs if we can't get back on course... !"
Armatios, standing as always at the helm,
shouted:
"I cannot leave the steering, one of you must
grab the rope and tie it securely so that it
cannot get loose again. Whoever can secure
the rope and steady the vessel will be rewarded".
The sailors looked at each other and one of
them said:
"Let me do it, I know the triple bowline knot
by heart". He caught the rope and started to
tie the knot but his efforts were interrupted
by a strong gust of wind and he was forced to
let it go.
The ship ran dangerously close to the rocks.
A second sailor caught the madly flailing rope
and said;
"My turn! I know better than all of you how
to do the quadruple bowline knot!" But the wind
snatched the rope from his careless hands when
he was about to tie the fourth knot... time was
getting very short - the galley was getting nearer
and nearer to the rocks.
Then a third sailor caught hold of the rope.
He was confident that he could secure the rope
with a round turn and two half hitches.
But again failure! Before the second half
hitch was tied a stronger wave than all the others,
submerged the deck and knocked the sailors down.
The galley was hardly a cable length away from
the shore bristling with rocks.
It was then that Armatios, exasperated by the
incompetence and boasting of his crew, handed
over the steering to another sailor and went to
tackle the rope himself. In a trice he had
knotted the rope and brought the galley to
an even keel, which stabilised the vessel in
spite of the furious weather.
The courage and strength of the captain made
the sailors silent and over the din of the wind
and the waves, Armatios shouted these words:
"You incompetent people! Do you know why I
am your captain? Not because I am stronger or
cleverer! I do not know more knotting techniques
than you, but I do know which knot is the most
suitable in a certain situation.
I did not ask you to demonstrate your expertise,
I simply asked that one of you tie a strong knot."
.................................................
Though the words of Armatios were quite brutal,
they were none the less true. In the course of
life, in a professional situation, each time
you are asked to solve a problem swiftly and
competently, the person making this request is
not interested in a demonstration of your expertise.
He is interested in the application of this
expertise to identify and to find a solution
to his problem.
.................................................
"Experience is a candle which lightens the person
who carries it."
Confucius
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