Tit for Tat Squared.

The 2004 Red Deer River Canoe Expedition.

Dell was not someone to trifle with.  He was an impenetrable, immovable force - a juggernaut of sorts, and poking at him would always result in payback.  Mostly this was done with good humour, but it was never something to look forward to.  If you got him good, he got you better.

I had learned this the hard way.   Apparently, the idea was to get someone back to such an extent that they would not try it again.  It seemed to work because I rarely took it upon myself to "get Dell."  Such a plan of action would no doubt lead to ruin.  It came upon me one day that Dell did not subscribe to the "tit for tat" form of retribution.  His response was always planned and orders of magnitude above whatever was done to slight him.  I coined this philosophy "Tit for Tat Squared."

Dell immediately saw the humour in this, but also the simplistic truth of it all.  It put into words his universal ideology for achieving supremacy.  It became a favoured expression of his; words to live by.  In my mind, it also anchored the supposition that you wanted Dell on your side, or the more likely scenario that you wanted to be on Dell's side. 

He lived and worked with this concept in mind.  At his funeral, I heard it said that Dell worked as hard as any other two men put together.  I could easily believe it; no one could outwork Dell.  Tit for tat squared was not just a philosophy for retribution, it was his dogma for life.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com   Eric Svendsen