Monday, May 23, 2011

Indifference - creates no wake

Note:  This post is more difficult than most to make here.  I've posted it and removed it three different times.  I share it with you with my Shipmate's permission.  He said to remember - "this is a four beer reflection" of a Navy career.

And the narrative has been removed a fourth time.  All that remains are these quotes:
"Indifference may not wreck a man's life at any one turn, but it will destroy him with a kind of dry-rot in the long run."
“There is only one way in the world to be distinguished: Follow your instinct! Be yourself, and you'll be somebody. Be one more blind follower of the blind; and you will have the oblivion you desire.”
William Bliss Carmen
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8 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 7:50 AM

    Shoganai.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 8:35 AM

    With Shi*mates like you, who needs enemies?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 8:55 AM

    Concur w/ anon 8:35.

    That CAPT(Ret) needs a shipmate who will help him see his wake - they are not all on the surface.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 9:01 AM

    Was he really 'indifferent' or did he just not leave a perceptable 'wake'? The first is really sad (if true). The latter is in the eye of the beholder.

    Equating the lake of a perceptable wake with indifference is wrong.

    Most, yes most, Flags/CAPTs 'wakes' are minimal but to say that they were indifferent because of it would be a hurtful sin.

    ReplyDelete
  5. General QuartersMay 23, 2011 at 9:59 AM

    Tug boats and destroyers. Are tugs indifferent ships because they do the daily grind without laurel or accolade?

    Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mike LambertMay 23, 2011 at 10:15 AM

    Anon at 8:55.

    Great point. I'll do a better job helping him see the value of his career.

    Best never to let the beer do the talking.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousMay 23, 2011 at 10:19 AM

    We all have our own definitions of success. Don't let someone else define it for you.

    A Captain born of privilege and a self-made Captain don't view their achievements through the same lens.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousJune 5, 2011 at 5:01 AM

    Captain Lambert,

    Everything depends on what the job requires, on a Submarine we were required to leave no wake, which does not mean that we left no impression on the enemy or those who depended on us to remain wake free without even knowing that it was what our mission required.

    Very Respectfully,
    Navyman834

    ReplyDelete