Once I took a “Dealing with Difficult People” workshop. The instructor told the following story, I don’t remember why he told it, but it made me so mad that he probably thought I was a plant. The story the instructor told was: “Two men and one woman were marooned on an island surrounded by shark-infested waters. There is a rowboat. The woman asks the men to row her away. One says, ‘no’ and the other one says, ‘Yes if you have sex with me.”
I loudly asked, “Why didn’t she just row herself off?” And he said, “Because, it was surrounded by shark infested waters.” I kept saying, “I don’t understand why she didn’t just take the boat.” And he kept saying, “Because she was afraid of the shark infested waters.” This went on for most of the class.
After that class, my next job was running a skiff back and forth to a barge that was anchored in the Columbia. It was the middle of winter and the water and wind could be fierce some days. When I felt the need for some courage, I would think to my self, “Shark infested waters, yeeee ha!” and plow ahead. Just like Xena and Tarzan have their cries, “Shark infested waters!” has been my courage conjuring phrase ever since because it reminds me of the cost of fear.
