Don’t Forget The Message

A few hours before setting out to sea, the captain and the first mate of a large commercial ocean liner had a bitter argument. During the heated conversation, the captain cruelly referred to the first mate’s old drinking habits, which had been excessive. Since he had not had a drink in six months, the first mate was outraged. “It was unfair of the captain to open up an old wound in this manner,” he brooded. Then he became depressed. He took a drink, then another, and when the ship pulled out of the harbor, he was quite drunk. On the second night out, the first mate was responsible for making an entry in the ship’s log. He opened the log and, to his horror, saw that the captain had recorded his behavior of the day before. “First mate drunk,” read the entry. Again, he was outraged. “The ship’s owners will read this,” he brooded, “and I’ll be fired and they’ll give me a bad reference.”…