I am troubled by an accident which occurred in the harbor. I myself was not hurt, nor any of my co-workers or family. A young man died in a work-related accident and was very much my close brush with a needless death.
I have been interviewing potential mechanics. Not full blown marine engineers, but just men or women with mechanical aptitude and the willingness to perform maintenance work on boats, forklifts, and whatever machinery needs it. Oil changes. Greasing. Simple trouble-shooting and repair.
One of the first candidates I interviewed was a man working at a location on the other side of the harbor. He was from Ukraine and has been in the US for a year. His resume showed that.if anything, he was overqualified, having an engineering degree from Kyiv and European maritime credentials.
He was also simply a pleasant man, polite and warm. Though overqualified, he was interested in our company and was frank about saying so. Higher pay, he explained, and our tugs are similiar to the ships he was used to working on.
Probably what won my respect most was that he said he was not pushing hard to gain US credentials because he felt his English should be better first. Not has to be, but should be. This though the interview was conducted entirely in English.
We parted amicably, with me encouraging him to consider coming to work for us, though I had to do background check before any offer was made. He said he would consider it over the weekend.
Then he was dead.
An accident.
A tragic loss.
This person he met only once, shaken.
Still.