A Seamans Prayer

Dear Lord, help me to become the kind of Chief that my Company would like me to be. Give me the mysterious "something" which will enable me at all times to satisfactorily keep the engines running without spares and help. Help me to teach and train the uninterested and dim-witted without ever losing my patience or temper. Give me that love for my fellow men which passeth all understanding so that I may lead the recalcitrant, obstinate, no good crew into the path of righteousness by my own example, and by soft persuading remonstrance, instead of throwing spanners at them. Instill into my inner-being tranquility and peace of mind that no longer will I wake from my restless sleep in the middle of the night, crying out "what have other Chiefs got that I haven't and how did they get it"? Teach me to smile if it kills me. Make me a better Chief of the ship by helping me develop larger and greater qualities of understanding, tolerance, sympathy, wisdom, perspective, equanimity, mind-reading and second sight. And when, Dear Lord, thou has helped me to achieve the pinnacle of my career as prescribed by me and when I have become the paragon of all that is virtuous in this earthly world, Dear Lord, move over. Amen. Found here.