Grand Entrance
On the second day of the Allied landings in North Africa, the British flagship HMS Bulolo steamed into Algiers harbor. A group of French citizens waited on the jetty to greet the ship. Unknown to the captain on the bridge or the crew in the engine room, the engine order telegraph had been damaged earlier by a German bomb’s near miss. Since the telegraph transmits orders to the engine room from the bridge, a routine docking order for full steam astern went unheard. The result was almost catastrophic.
The French welcoming committee on the jetty watched with mounting alarm as the ship loomed nearer at twelve knots. Officers on the bridge debated whether Bulolo ’s masts would likely shear off forward or backward upon impact. Shrieking bysanders scattered; the captain yelled, “Everyone lie down!” to his crew; and the great bow heaved up onto a fortuitous mudbank, demolishing the seawall and nicking a waterfront house before settling back into the harbor, intact. Applauding spectators recovered their wits and agreed that the Royal Navy knew how to make an entrance.131
In 1981 Ronald Reagan was about to have surgery for a gunshot wound inflicted by a would-be assassin. He looked around at the surgical team and commented, “I hope you’re all Republicans.”132 We’re always thankful for someone who can see some humor in an otherwise dire situation. This kind of humor can relieve the tension that tends to compound the problem. It also reflects an ability to live in the present moment and a faith that all will be well in the end. Such faith can be contagious, especially when it comes from an authority figure. We should always look for ways to lighten the burden of those around us with humor.
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
—Psalm 126:2