Page 11 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

timate the power of story, of anecdote. For instance: ing. But getting good at something requires failure,
some electricians were rewiring a house. Their cli- sometimes a lot of failure, and that doesn’t feel good
ent, observing their work, saw that they were, um, at all. As if that weren’t enough, our fellows are
selectively disregarding certain portions of the elec- sometimes all too ready to offer a sarcastic “way to
trical code, specifically those sections that the city go” if we perform poorly. And even worse, it is so
inspector was unlikely to check. When the client easy to delude ourselves with a comfortingly com-
called them on this, the job boss said, “Come on, petent self-image, and it is painful when our actual
when was the last time you heard about someone abilities don’t live up to that image.
being electrocuted by their house?” He just didn’t But the sweet beauty of learning is too valuable
understand that every line of that code was writ- to allow these obstacles to stand in our way. Did
ten in blood, that the reason that our houses are you know that “failure” derives from a Latin word
unlikely to electrocute us is that we have made for- that means “to deceive”? When we fail, we aren’t
mal note of things that have killed people, and seek lesser-than; we are on the wrong track, and we need
to avoid them, with a further subtext being that the to expend some effort to get on the right one. Setting
logic behind every line of construction code is not goals is all very well, but it is only through prac-
always immediately apparent to the casual observer. tice—maybe arduous and lengthy—that we get on
Attend, then, to standards, to tradition. And do track. In the words of Archilocus, “We do not rise to
your best to work out the reasons behind the stan- the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of
dards, to keep them alive, and to make them easier our training.”
to pass on effectively. Which brings us to: We likewise can learn to recognize sarcasm
as rooted in insecurity, and to recognize that self-
TEACH image is a placeholder by which we mark our prog-
ress, and which therefore needs to be as objective as
I have traded in my legal pad for a laptop, but I still we can manage. We can learn, in short, to detoxify
want to keep this gift moving. Teaching is a way to the process of learning.
express a basic human need: helping to take care One of my students, a Coast Guard inspector,
of others. Some people teach as a way of showing really had the hang of this. After taking a rig survey
off, others because they actually can’t do anything class, he had a charter boat taken out of service for
else, but the best teaching is an aspect of doing, and what he now recognized as grievous safety issues.
it benefits the teacher as well as the student; you The owner said, “Wait a minute. Just last year you
simply cannot transmit a complex body of knowl- passed me with flying colors. My boat couldn’t have
edge without organizing it, and you cannot organize gone downhill that far in just one year!” To which
it unless you understand its components to some the inspector replied, “It’s not about your boat, it’s
degree, as well as the part each component plays in about me. And I reserve the right to be smarter than
the whole, and even then you cannot teach it unless I used to be. And not as smart as I’m going to be.”
you can figure out an effective way to present it to As riggers, we do things that people trust their
someone who doesn’t understand what you under- lives to. None of us is incapable of error. None of us
stand, and you can’t do any of that unless you work can rest on our laurels. It is only through continuous
harder at mastering your subject than you ever learning that we can continue to approach our ide-
would if you weren’t trying to teach it. als. My hope is that this book is now a better tool, an
aid in approaching those ideals.
LEARN
Brion Toss
We crave competence. The feeling of being good at Port Townsend, Washington
something, of doing it well, is tremendously reward-

x