Calmness in the midst of a storm
“My father used to say to me, ‘Whenever you get into a jam, whenever you get into a crisis or an emergency… become the calmest person in the room and you’ll be able to figure your way out of it.’” Rudolph Giuliani
Throughout my work, I’ve mentioned a friend, a South Afrikaner who sailed his little 38 foot boat across the seas to Annapolis, Maryland. Other sailors in the port admired him greatly. You see, David is deaf and he sails alone. Still, I was not overly impressed. My home town is always filled with sailors from every port in the world. Annapolis, in addition to being the home of the U.S. Naval Academy, is also known as the Sailing Capitol of the World. Even I graduated from the famed Annapolis Sailing School, although I considered my “captain’s card” pretty much of a joke. And hope I will never be tested in Chesapeake Bay, much less on the high seas.
Nevertheless, the day David headed back to South Africa, I set sail with him thinking I would go to Norfolk, Virginia then disembark. I felt a bit foolish when the older sailors in the port sent us off with blaring whistles!
Within an hour or so, we hit an unexpected storm. Six foot waves washed across our bow; we swayed until our hull was leaning frighteningly to starboard. While I was huddled wrapped in David’s yellow bad weather gear, frantically chewing ginger root to keep myself from sudden sea sicknesses, David became more and more calm.
Rain, the sea and those terrible waves drenched us. His bare feet slapped on the deck as he ran this way and that, adjusting sails. At one point, he raced up the mast to the top and I cringed, thinking of what would happen if he fell into the churning sea. I knew I would probably not be able to see him in the sea and would be unable to help him if I did. As I became more agitated, begging him to put on a life jacket, he became so calm one would think he was in sunshine and a flat sea. It is without doubt his ability to remain calm and in control in the midst of a storm that permits him to sail alone, unable to hear the wind in the sails or the sound of an oncoming ship’s horn.
I finally understood his onshore fans: calmness under stress is powerful.
Meditation for the Day
“Power is so characteristically calm that calmness in itself has the aspect of power, and forbearance implies strength.” 1st Baron Edward Lytton
Action for the Day
I pray that I may be calm in my daily life and particularly during those days when my life’s boat is being rocked by unexpected and perhaps ferocious storms. I will remind myself: Sunshine always follows a storm.
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