Man attempts your decapitation in the surf. Blames you. Your response?
Had a little dispute in the surf today. A scenario so outrageous I blew my top. Bared my teeth and strutted like a monkey. But, unlike most cases of chop-suey, I didn’t exit the stage pounding with adrenalin and awash with the usual feelings of shame or vows to seek anger management.
As Dylan Thomas once wrote, “When one burns one’s bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.”
This was righteous. Or maybe I’m wrong. You tell me.
Scenario #1
Clean three-foot runners off a mid-tide bank. Crowded but it ain’t out of control. You’re in a good mood so you wait your turn with what is probably uncharacteristic patience. Ten minutes into sesh, you grab your first wave. It grips the bank and you spiral down the line. Thirty yards later a not-very-good surfer spins, drops in, falls off and you collide. Boards tangled etc.
You come up, and again with what is probably uncharacteristic patience, decide that this world is too precious to sully with fighting and yelling. You grab your board and paddle away without saying a word. Suddenly, you hear the drop-in guy bark, “Sorry for crashing into you but you should have yelled out.” He is examining his 7s carbon-vector construction Super Fish for possible damage.
You find the scenario so difficult to comprehend your patience evaporates. What would you do?
Scenario #2
Fifteen minute after the collision, and after a reasonably hot discussion, you’re describing what happened to a pal. You see in the distance the the 7 carbon-vector construction Super Fish owner shaking his head at you. You paddle very fast to the shaking head. He reiterates his position that it is the surfer on the inside who takes all responsibility for a collision.
What would you do?
