From: terjej@edb.tih.no (Terje Johansen,o90b)
Subject: Doing it the right way
Reply-To: terjej@edb.tih.no
Posting-Front-End: Winix Conference v 92.05.15  1.20 (running under MS-Windows)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 19:27:55 GMT

After my 'Flames over America'-posting, I received some flames, some
'I-agree''s - and this pearl! Enjoy!



Terje:

This is not a flame, so I hope you don't delete this message without
reading it.  I have a long humorous story to tell you.

Once upon a time there was a young man who had a dream.  He wanted to go
to the Olympics, and he wanted to win a gold medal in the high diving
championship.

He joined the high school swim team.  He found out that he would have to
buy his own swimming trunks to join the team, so he got a job after school
cleaning out the stables at the local race track.  It was a messy, stinky
job, but he did it, knowing that he was working towards the realization
of his dream.

He earned enough money to buy his trunks, and became a high school
champion at the high dive event.  In his last year in high school, his
coach came to him and suggested he try out for the local college team.
The young man realized that college was his next step to the Olympics,
so he agreed to try out for the team.

He was accepted to the team, but found out he would have to earn his own
way through college since the scholarships and grants had been given to
others.  He buckled down, got two jobs, and worked his way through school
as best he could.  He maintained a respectable grade point average, and
became a champion in his area in the high dive event.  He never regretted
having to wash dishes, bus tables, clean out stables and babysit rich
folks' pets to earn his keep.

The time for the Olympic tryouts came, and the young man was excited.  He
gave it his all, and managed to make the Olympic swim team.  He was elated!

He found out, however, that he would have to earn his passage on a ship to
Europe, where the Olympics were being held that year.  He contacted the
captain of the ship that the team would be traveling on, and he asked for
a job, to earn his way across the ocean.  The only job available was one
in the engine room, running the boilers that drove the massive engines.
The young man accepted, even though he knew the job was very dangerous
and health-threatening due to the heat and coal dust in the air.

On the trip, some of the passengers asked the captain to arrange for a
demonstration by the swimming team.  The captain asked the coach, and he
agreed.  Everyone gave an outstanding performance of their skills.  Then
it was the high diver's turn.

The crew had managed to rig up a very high diving board above the ship's
small swimming pool.  It was so high that the top could not be seen
because the clouds obscured the view.  The young man bravely started up
the ladder.

At the top, the ladder swayed ominously in the wind.  The ship was lost
to view because of the cloud cover.  The young man would only have the
ladder to guide his descent.

He jumped, and quickly became a streaking arrow through the air.  He
plummeted faster and faster.  Breaking through the clouds, he spotted
the speck of a ship below.  Streaking down at a breath-taking speed,
he knifed into the water.  So rapid was his descent that he drove right
through the bottom of the pool, through several decks of the ship and
down through the hull.  Several hundred feet below, he finally slowed
his descent and struck out for the surface.  His lungs screaming for air,
he reached the surface and gasped for life.

The rescue boat caught him just as he was going under again.  The captain
pulled him onto the dinghy and cradled the diver's head in his lap.

The diver's eyes fluttered, and the captain asked, "Son, are you okay?"
And the diver replied, "I'm okay, sir, I'm okay.  Please don't worry
about me.  I've been through many a hard ship before."

======
Enjoy!
======

 _____________________________________________________ ______________________
|                                                     |                      |
|  Where are we going, President Clinton?....         |    Doug Dickey       |
|       ....and why are we all in this handbasket?    |    aabnk1@asuacad    |
|_____________________________________________________|______________________|


-- 
Terje Johansen at Trondheim College of Engineering, Norway.

Bury me deep. The next generations will be hungry.