Bravery or Stupidity?
I was working on a vessel in the North Sea and we had some highly specialized and valuable diving equipment onboard that needed to be transported to Rotterdam harbor in the Netherlands in a big hurry. The only passage available was a small barge that was being pushed by a Belgian ocean going tug boat. The equipment was loaded on the deck in the open and I would ride in with it on the tug to make sure that it arrived safely. When we arrived in the harbor area the barge was boarded by about 6 dutch longshoremen to assist in the handling of the barge and seeing that it got tied up properly at the correct docks .
The tugboat captain sent a deckhand to wake me up and explained to me in his broken french/flemish dialect that the equipment might be in danger of theft from these men and that I perhaps should go aboard the barge and have a look. It was still quite dark, yet just before the sun came up and the captain urged me to take his flashlight.
I climbed up aboard the barge and was halfway across the deck when the flashlight quit and I continued on in almost total darkness when I hear some rustling noises, and as I got close to the bow, I could see the outlines of several men rummaging through the boxes and crates and some of the equipment had actually been pulled out of their boxes ! Now being all by myself and that I can’t speak a word of dutch and these guys don’t look all that friendly, I was scared as hell to do or say anything, I mean they could have killed me I realized later after thinking about it.
What I did was strode right up into the middle of the group and asked loudly what the hell did they think they were doing! I suddenly realized they had not noticed my presence until I spoke up, in english, and they all turned and looked at me kind of startled. They looked confused for a few moments, looked at each other then slowly wandered off to their positions without a word.
A little while later after I realized what I had done, I thought it was maybe the stupidest thing I have ever done!. No way was the equipment in those boxes worth my life or even injury! What do you guys think?
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I think you were quite brave.
I think if you walk into the middle of a situation, taking them off guard and putting yourself in a position of authority that you increase your chances of getting out alive. Obviously you did … but what happened? Did they just give up?
Nanner= they just went about their business and once the barge was tied up at the dock, they climbed off and left without a word!
brave stupidity.
I think they were just startled that you were there and speaking a language they didn’t understand. That’s probably why you didn’t get hit or anything.
seven instinct in motion. you reacted vs. retreating. your style. amazing you’re alive. ox’s
Seeing as you regretted doing it and the stuff was not worth risking your life over then I’d have to plump for Stupidity, but then again there often isn’t a whole world of difference between the two. Maybe the sailors realized that the stuff wasn’t worth killing you over.
I think you should have made them walk the plank and then had your parrot peck their eyeballs out and then had them swimmin’ with the fishes and then peed over the edge of the bardge on their half dead bodies and then curled into fetus position yelling, “What have I done?”
I’m with Nanner, take control and take them off gaurd. But saying ditto what Nanner said, just wasn’t silly enough for me today.
Besides all that, I think you did the right thing.
Happy Friday!
Lois Lane
P.S. part 6 will be up in the morning. Thanks for checking in everyday and sorry for keeping you hanging.
tCj= lol ya, maybe bravery and stupidity hehe, that works too!
Veronica= i keep thinking i have nine lives, but that was like 50 lives ago…. either i can’t count or….
redfred= hey! thanks for stopping in! you’re prolly right, a stupid american wasn’t worth killin’ for that stuff!!
Lois= !! wow your version of the ending is much more exciting! maybe it’s not too late for a rewrite…hmmmm….. hehe !
Your neverending story is fun and you know i’ll be back!
Lois= p.s. I LOVE silly women !! weeeee!
xoxo’s !
Reaction is a devilish thing, once you later realized what was potentially at risk. But you stood your ground, and walked away. May the lesson learned be to possibly weigh different options if a similarly styled situation should happen to arise?
The fact is you’ve got the steel balls to put yourself in situations not everyone would be so keen to endure given the same chance.
you do the right thing and hope the insurance company pays
Angel= !! you got mail!! oh and thanks! hehehe!
Mike= LOL, good one, dude!
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And you’re welcome! (:
I can’t say it was stupid because I would have done the same thing and we all know I don’t do stupid things. LOL And I’m not sure it was bravery because to be brave you would have had to thought out the consequences ahead of time and still done it. So I would have to say gut reaction. Yeah gut reaction powered by big brass balls.
Brave without realizing it is my take on it. I probably would have done the same thing. In fact, I have! Some woman was trying to break into my apartment the first year I was married. The now ex-husband stayed in bed and let me go downstairs and deal with her. I simply flung the front door open and said “What the hell do you think you’re doing??” Then she tried to say she thought it was HER apartment and that she was going to call the cops on me! Feh! But afterwards I realized that it was pretty stuppid to just open the door like that!
It could have been worse, but if you wanted to see that stuff again you did the smart thing.
I have a customer who is a ship captain for the Port of Houston, all he ever talks about is getting offered food on his ships. Sounds like your job is way more interesting!
Kick his ass sea bass!
Now how many lives do you have and who Insures you and you have lived in the fast lane and can still tell us about it…Thank goodness….wanna party?
Angel= =)
Trashman= that could be true, just a reaction lol
Zelda= thankya
Heather= wow ! odd!
Becka= yes thats also true hmmmm
Jethro= you bet, jet!
Vickie= hi hi! not sure! but, we can party on tha patio!! weeee!
Sometimes you do things you need to do without thinking.
It wasn’t brave or stupid. To be either of those, you would have had to think it through… which you obviously didn’t. Haha.
It was necessary.
My vote is brave.
Really, though, it would have been much funnier if you had faked an epileptic seizure or something.
I dunno…sounds more like instinct than stupidity or bravery. I might, in your place, have mentioned something about not really wanting to have to use this big gun I have… LOL
Hey, I have my new template up and could use your $.02 worth.
*poink*
Don’t listen to them seven! It was all bravery. 100% balls of steel… and stainless steel, at that!
Reama= hehe thats true!
Jeanette= thanks! and well your way would have ben funny, bu i don’t think i was thinking about being funny at that moment!
Celti= i hear ya callin’ and i think we have it worked out!! looks good too!
Lauren= haha thankya!
You have led the most interesting life. One time I confronted a woman who made a smart-ass comment to me on the dance floor while she was standing by two toothless neanderthals she was with but I was drunk so I don’t think that counts. By the way, I vote with Lauren and the whole stainless steel balls thing.