Professional Courtesy

There must be a million jokes about lawyers, sharks, and professional courtesy. They are all predictable and all center around the intrinsic nature of land and sea sharks. The key to a successful story of this genre, therefore, is not to see it coming.

My long time friend of over 38 years, Jon Miller, is a lawyer, mediator, and all round good guy. He is also a certified diving instructor who is active in reef preservation and ecology, especially off Belieze.

Recently he wrote about his encounter with a whale shark, which he recorded and just posted to YouTube.



I asked Jon about the encounter.

"Jon, how big is that sucker?"

"About 50 feet or so; you know a pretty small guy all things considered."

"FIFTY FEET! That's the size of most dive boats. It's practically the length of my caravan in the Galil."

"Naw. Besides it's a whale shark; they have baleen so they aren't interested in people at all--no risk; no worry."

"Oh come on, Jon. It's not like you can see one of these guy coming a long way off and say, 'oh, that's a whale shark'. Surely it must have loomed up as a big shark shadow--a big shadow at that. Weren't you scared, at least startled when you saw its form through the blue?"

"No, not at all."

"Really? Not even an extra thumpity thump of the heart?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Professional Courtesy."