Indigenous Ability

[For the mindset behind the following see Part 1 .] The car plunges through the guard rail into the river below… The recreational boat sinks from beneath you at 2AM… The bridge long overdue for inspection fails beneath you… The proverbial “100-year flood” occurs and that formerly high and dry street becomes a strictured fast-water nozzle strong enough to sweep cars and humans… The non-swimming loved one is thrashing and flailing mid-water… Your “unsinkable” luxury liner sinks beneath as you sip brandy in the smoking-room… The ability to swim and maneuver well in water, or as the old-timers called it, being possessed of good watermanship, is of ultimate importance at these times. But…again we often fail to consider that even if we possess the vital skill of swimming, like all other endeavors, it is subject to state-dependent learning. That is, if we learn our combat skills in a nice, calm, no-worries zone that is in no way reflective of th...

First, let’s set the stage. The following quote is an extract from Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex by First-Mate Owen Chase. In 1820 Chase was aboard the ill-fated ship that was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale (the basis for the fictional account Moby-Dick by Melville.) The survivors spent 95 days at sea in harrowing conditions and ultimately cannibalism was relied upon to survive. I offer the below extract and the commentary to follow for a very specific purpose. “I found it on this occasion true, that misery does indeed love company; unaided, and unencouraged by each other, there were with us many whose weak minds, I am confident, would have sunk under the dismal retrospections of the past catastrophe, and who did not possess either sense or firmness enough to contemplate our approaching destiny, without the cheering of some more determined countenance than their own.” First, note there is no bitterness or burden...