Greasing The Skids!

Various friends of mine have had opinions regarding karma, but the one that stuck with me is that of Bosun Mate First Class John O’Toole, ” Karma is wonderful, but it sometimes needs a bit of help.”

What O’Toole meant was that waiting for the snotty first lieutenant to get caught with his pants down doing something rotten to Seaman Jones was all well and good, but arranging it so the Skipper walked by it on his rounds was just helping karma out. Ohhh Lucky Day!

As many seamen do, the term “greasing the skids” was often used. You grease the skids in a shipyard to ease the launching of a vessel as it slides down the “ways” into the water at launch. Greasing the skids on the lieutenant’s misdeeds was a bit more subtle, but had the same effect.

Subsequently, as I transitioned into civilian life, I took bits and pieces of O’Toole’s philosophy with me – Greasing the skids was one of them.

To give an example, someone who screwed me over at one of my government jobs was applying for a new, better-paying job in the government. I was, by that point, making a living at UPS, shoving packages through the system, but running my own business as a marine carver on the side. I did, however, have a re-occurring dream of getting a bit back at this person. But I was certainly in no position to seek revenge for their misdeeds against me. Then opportunity walked into my booth at the Wooden Boat Show in Newport, Rhode Island.

It was someone I’d known who had worked in the regional office of the agency I had worked in. I casually waved at her, and she waved back. She walked over to my booth and expressed pleasure in seeing me after so many years. We talked, and as a show of friendship, I made a small gift of a hand-carved cherry spoon. We parted with smiles.1

A few minutes later, she returned. “Hey, Lou! You used to work closely with Harry, didn’t you?” Harry was the jerk who’d done me dirt! “Sure,” I said. She smiled and told me that he was in line for a new job. “What do you think of him?”

At this moment, a wave of invective built up in my mind for delivery. Revenge! At last! but then I reflected on the words of wisdom I had learned from my mother and simply said:

“My mother always said that if you can’t say something nice about someone, you’re better off saying nothing.”

She smiled with a knowing look on her face, and said she’d bear that in mind.

Harry did not get the new job, and from digging around I heard that others had offered “innocent” but telling statements, and others had greased his skids.

So do I believe in karma? Absolutely. But sometimes karma needs a bit of help.