I SEEA man came up to me for flight test once when I was an inspector for the Department of Commerce. He flew terribly, so I sent him away and told him to come back in a couple of weeks, after he had practiced a little more. He came back a couple of weeks later, and I turned him down again.The third time he came in he said, “I think we’ll get along all right this time. Can I take the test today?”“I’m too busy today,” I told him. But he pleaded so hard that I finally said, “All right, I’ll squeeze you in this afternoon. Come at three o’clock.”“Thank you, thank you,” he said, and held out his hand.I reached out my hand to grip his and felt something in my palm. I pulled my hand away and found a piece of paper in it. I unfolded it and discovered a ten-dollar bill.I stood there and looked at it, puzzled and amazed for a few seconds. Then the full import of it dawned on me. He thought I had been holding out for something. He thought he would fix me up. He didn’t know he could never fix me up if I put my stamp of approval on him when he was unfit and he should then go out and kill some passenger because of my leniency.It started at the top of my head, that raging anger. It burned like flaming coals and raced through my veins like fire. I began to tremble violently, and when I looked up the man was a red flame in a red room.I hurled the paper bill at him as though it were a javelin and shouted, “Get out! Get out and don’t ever come back!”Have you ever thrown a piece of paper at anybody?The bill fluttered ineffectually down to the floor halfway between us. I rushed at it and kicked at it until it was out of the door. I kicked him out too.I wondered, sitting at my desk afterward, why I had got so mad. It wasn’t honesty. I hadn’t had time to think of honesty. I wondered if it was because he had implied that I was worth ten dollars. I wondered what I would have done if he had offered me ten thousand dollars. I began to understand graft.
I SEEA man came up to me for flight test once when I was an inspector for the Department of Commerce. He flew terribly, so I sent him away and told him to come back in a couple of weeks, after he had practiced a little more. He came back a couple of weeks later, and I turned him down again.The third time he came in he said, “I think we’ll get along all right this time. Can I take the test today?”“I’m too busy today,” I told him. But he pleaded so hard that I finally said, “All right, I’ll squeeze you in this afternoon. Come at three o’clock.”“Thank you, thank you,” he said, and held out his hand.I reached out my hand to grip his and felt something in my palm. I pulled my hand away and found a piece of paper in it. I unfolded it and discovered a ten-dollar bill.I stood there and looked at it, puzzled and amazed for a few seconds. Then the full import of it dawned on me. He thought I had been holding out for something. He thought he would fix me up. He didn’t know he could never fix me up if I put my stamp of approval on him when he was unfit and he should then go out and kill some passenger because of my leniency.It started at the top of my head, that raging anger. It burned like flaming coals and raced through my veins like fire. I began to tremble violently, and when I looked up the man was a red flame in a red room.I hurled the paper bill at him as though it were a javelin and shouted, “Get out! Get out and don’t ever come back!”Have you ever thrown a piece of paper at anybody?The bill fluttered ineffectually down to the floor halfway between us. I rushed at it and kicked at it until it was out of the door. I kicked him out too.I wondered, sitting at my desk afterward, why I had got so mad. It wasn’t honesty. I hadn’t had time to think of honesty. I wondered if it was because he had implied that I was worth ten dollars. I wondered what I would have done if he had offered me ten thousand dollars. I began to understand graft.
A man came up to me for flight test once when I was an inspector for the Department of Commerce. He flew terribly, so I sent him away and told him to come back in a couple of weeks, after he had practiced a little more. He came back a couple of weeks later, and I turned him down again.
The third time he came in he said, “I think we’ll get along all right this time. Can I take the test today?”
“I’m too busy today,” I told him. But he pleaded so hard that I finally said, “All right, I’ll squeeze you in this afternoon. Come at three o’clock.”
“Thank you, thank you,” he said, and held out his hand.
I reached out my hand to grip his and felt something in my palm. I pulled my hand away and found a piece of paper in it. I unfolded it and discovered a ten-dollar bill.
I stood there and looked at it, puzzled and amazed for a few seconds. Then the full import of it dawned on me. He thought I had been holding out for something. He thought he would fix me up. He didn’t know he could never fix me up if I put my stamp of approval on him when he was unfit and he should then go out and kill some passenger because of my leniency.
It started at the top of my head, that raging anger. It burned like flaming coals and raced through my veins like fire. I began to tremble violently, and when I looked up the man was a red flame in a red room.
I hurled the paper bill at him as though it were a javelin and shouted, “Get out! Get out and don’t ever come back!”
Have you ever thrown a piece of paper at anybody?
The bill fluttered ineffectually down to the floor halfway between us. I rushed at it and kicked at it until it was out of the door. I kicked him out too.
I wondered, sitting at my desk afterward, why I had got so mad. It wasn’t honesty. I hadn’t had time to think of honesty. I wondered if it was because he had implied that I was worth ten dollars. I wondered what I would have done if he had offered me ten thousand dollars. I began to understand graft.