Rules for fools

 Above, the Fool on the Hill: Too bad there were no rules for him 

Two weeks ago, when I was preparing for the second coming of the UK Driving Test in Norwich, the classroom instructor answered a student's question as follows:

"Rules are for the obedience of fools, and the guidance of wise men."

After the class, I asked him for the origin of the quote, and he wrote it down and attributed it to Douglas Bader.

I had no idea who Douglas Bader was until a few moments ago, when I looked him up on the endlessly useful, not-much-less-accurate-than-Britannica, Wikipedia. (Truth: someone studied it and found little discrepancy.) Bader was a WWII British flying ace who brought down many German aircraft before being brought down himself and spending time trying to escape from a German POW camp. Amazing enough to survive and badger one's captors, but Bader had two prosthetic legs to contend with, one of which was damaged when he was ejecting from his plane. He had the prosthetic legs before he became a WWII flying ace.

I suspect Bader broke a lot of rules, although he broke them carefully. He successfully made his case for his flying ability despite having lost his legs in an earlier flying accident, and was returned to the air in time for the Battle of Britain. Courage, it would seem, must accompany wisdom when one wants to break the rules. But wisdom sometimes accompanies age and experience; when he was a flying cadet, in 1928, Bader was almost expelled because of his fondness for forbidden romps in motorcars. Racing motorcars.

One can see how Bader might have developed his attitude toward rules, though. It would seem a bit ridiculous to forbid energetic young men engaged in the dangerous pursuit of flying airplanes to cavort in cars.

By the time he engaged German airplanes in battle, Bader had developed three additional beliefs. They were:

• If you had the height, you controlled the battle.
• If you came out of the sun, the enemy could not see you.
• If you held your fire until you were very close, you seldom missed.

These apply as well to life in general. You are foolish to "attack an enemy"--that is, proceed in some adversarial contest--unless you hold the high ground, ethically, monetarily or whatever pertains to the situation in question. The concept is often more mundanely rendered as, "Don't piss into the wind."

You are also foolish to show an enemy your position in a negotiation. If you want a good deal on your new house, do not flash your money around, nor by the same token, present yourself as a penniless sad sack. In either case, you are giving away your position, which the other side may then use to its advantage. Again, there are mundane versions of this concept. Keep things close to the vest is one.

If you can hold your fire, you will prevail in life as in combat. Do not prematurely fling your talking points at others; the longer you wait and let others talk, the more likely you are to gain the information you need to succeed in any negotiation. Years ago, a woman I was interviewing for an article used the term, "Ears open, mouth shut." It works. Every time. And it's simple, but not easy, especially if you have a tendency to let your ego gain control.

Which is precisely what Douglas Bader must seldom have done. His ego didn't seem to enter into his thought processes. He paid attention to business, not to his growing reputation as the British answer to WWI's Red Baron. As a POW, he took it as his mission to bedevil his captors as often as he could. After the war, he became CEO of the aircraft division of Shell.

He wasn't, however, perfect. Another of his great quotes, on entering a gathering of former Luftwaffe pilots in Germany after the war, was, "My God, I had no idea we left so many of you bastards alive," according to a Wikipedia-cited source. He was a political conservative, Victorian in his beliefs and just a tad bigoted. He absolutely objected to Rhodesia gaining independence, for example.

Still, one needn't throw out the baby with the bathwater--since we are on the subject of pithy sayings--and so may consider Bader's best quote for what it is, a darn good prescription for a reasoned life by anyone except morons.

I was going to take a cheap shot and note that thereby, Bush, Bachmann, Palin et. al. are left out of it, but I won't.

BTW: I passed the driving test, despite telling the examiner, when he asked what I'd like to be called, that he could call me Your Grace.