"Cautious" may not be the right word. What I meant to convey is when you live in dangerous times {as we still do} you have be on heightened alert for whatever may come your way. Another way of putting this is being in a mental state of "expectant readiness".

I believe that is probably true for ship captains. My theory is that ring {circle} games where you never knew who would be called upon to enter the ring and "show your motion" helped African American children {and others} to develop & reinforce this mental condition of "expectant readiness". This is a coping strategy that still is needed in todays' world but sad to say, few children beyond pre-school ages play ring games and play party games anymore.