>That’s why I want to make sure that you’re the only one to refuel my plane tomorrow. I won’t let anyone else on the field touch it.
...he said, before his final fatal flight. Apparently some people DO do the same mistake twice.
([Edit] to avoid confusion: My addition is about giving a different twist to the story, to show that it's not a given that people who made a mistake will not be prone to repeat it. Some people seem to be extra prone in repeating certain mistakes. It's not saying Hoover actually died or anything... I mean, isn't it obvious?)
I was giving a different twist to the story to point that things can (and do) go differently to the rosy picture painted in it ("oh, you did a mistake once == you'll never make it again").
That's why in the except I kept, I didn't keep any reference to Bob Hoover. It's about the idea in the story, not some particular pilot.
This is one of those situations where "trust but verify" takes on a whole new importance.
There's a world of difference in how you should treat someone you know almost nothing about that makes an mistake that is almost fatal for you and someone you know to be fairly responsible. That doesn't mean don't be nice if you can, relative to the situation ("nice" when someone has almost killed you doesn't necessarily mean be cordial, it may mean cool down for a sec before attempting to get them fired), but it would be stupid to assume the same mistake won't happen again without knowing a bit more about how it happened in the first place.
>Maybe tell a true story that helps your point, rather than a blatantly fictitious one.
The point wasn't to give a true example, it was to add a twist to the ending of the story told by the parent to make those reading it fathom an alternative way things could have gone that goes contrary to its message.
>I could tell a story about purple moon dragons, but it wouldn't "show" anything.
Why not? That's what allegories, parables, zen koans, fables and 200 other forms of fictional stories used in making a point do.
...he said, before his final fatal flight. Apparently some people DO do the same mistake twice.
([Edit] to avoid confusion: My addition is about giving a different twist to the story, to show that it's not a given that people who made a mistake will not be prone to repeat it. Some people seem to be extra prone in repeating certain mistakes. It's not saying Hoover actually died or anything... I mean, isn't it obvious?)