Real life often is every bit as fascinating, suspenseful, and unbelievable as a bizarre movie plot—sometimes even more so. The past few days, I watched with incredulity the coverage of the recent Somali pirate attack on the U.S. ship, Maersk Alabama, in which Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage. U.S. Navy Seal snipers freed Phillips when they shot the three pirates who were holding him aboard a powerless lifeboat. It was an amazing ending to this particular episode, but the saga continues.

Since Phillips rescue, pirates have captured four vessels and 60 hostages off the Horn of Africa. Today they attempted to hijack a U.S. freighter, the Liberty Sun, which, like the Maersk Alabama, was carrying humanitarian aid. The attempt was unsuccessful, but the ship was damaged by rocket and automatic weapon fire. Reportedly, no crew members were injured.

The Obama administration has pledged to confront the pirates. The Bush administration had issued plan for pirates in December. Moscow Mills Manufacturing Services, Stowe, Vt., produces something that just might be an effective component of any plan—as long as it doesn't fall into the pirates' hands.

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One of my co-workers always ends her e-mails with a profound one-liner. Her current gem is: Events are less important than our response to them.

My immediate reaction to these words of wisdom was also a one-liner: Truer words were never spoken.

Life is a continual learning process. A lesson that we can't learn too early is that while we can't control everything that happens to us—in our personal lives or at work—we can control how we react. I think it's high time people begin to accept responsibility for their reactions and temper them as necessary—especially now that desk rage is on the rise.

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I was going to write about the economy, but something I was watching on TV last night really stuck with me. My wife grabbed the remote control from me and sat down to watch Larry King's interview with Jenny McCarthy, who is the mother of an autistic son and has just written a book about the steps she has taken to help treat her son.

This doesn't really relate to the world of metal fabricating, but I think there's a lesson to be learned. The lesson is more about personal interaction and civility, but I'll get to that later.

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