Wednesday, July 09, 2025
STORY - MY FATHER AND THE CAPTAIN - A LESSON IN KINDNESS
My father would often take me fishing... primarily in Pensacola Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico... and a few bayous in and around the area. I enjoyed being with him doing "guy" things but, somehow, the fishing gene died in me. Apparently, it may have been transmitted through my sister to her grandsons.
But, what I didn't learn about fishing, I sometimes learned about life.
One morning, fishing off the Pensacola Bay bridge, a derelict old skeleton of a man, with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth, shambled up and politely addressed Daddy, asking in the time-honored fashion of fishermen around the world, if he was catching anything.My father replied politely and for a few minutes they chatted about fishing, where to fish, what was biting, what bait to use, to fish the bottom or not, etc.
After a while the ragged old man politely took his leave and wandered off down the bridge to have more conversations on fishing with other strangers.
I had noticed during the entire conversation, my dad, a normally taciturn man, had been open, cheerful, and polite... even going so far as to consistently address the decrepit old soul as "Captain", and speak to him with deference and respect.
The following conversation is as I remember it, probably not word for word...
Surprised at such familiarity in my father, especially with such a ragged, snaggle-toothed fellow, I asked,
"Daddy? Do you know him?"
"Nope. Never saw him before in my life."
"Then how did you know he was a Captain?"
"Did you see the hat he was wearing?"
"Yes."
"That's a captain's hat."
"So he's a captain of a ship?"
"Oh, I don't know that he's the captain of anything, but, he wears the hat. He apparently likes to think of himself as one, and it doesn't hurt me to call him 'Captain' and make him feel good. An old man like that doesn't have a lot, and it probably means a lot to him when somebody treats him with the respect he would like to have."
I don't remember what fish we caught that morning, but, I did get a free lesson from my dad. Respect people. A lot of time that's all they want... sometimes, that's all they might have.
Labels: donovan baldwin, fishing, kindness, life lesson
# posted by Donovan Baldwin @ 10:22 AM 
