An event
We went to the beach yesterday. The first thing we noticed were the crashing waves, they were quite raucous, like the ocean was angry. No sooner had we walked upon the sand and found our spot, had only just begun spreading down towel and chairs, than I heard the whistle of the lifeguard. I’d noticed the tower as we walked up, there in front of the public access. I glanced toward him and saw him skip down the ladder, walking at first, then sprinting. He ran into the waves, then dove into them. We looked beyond him to a boy, who looked to be between 10-15, it was hard to tell from the shore, who was too far out into the crazily tearing waves. Another person was trying to pull the boy in, but couldn’t, the waves were too strong.
The lifeguard quickly, calmly, grabbed him, then I watched, terrified, as he struggled against that strong force of nature. He and the kid went under, then came up, again and again, moving parallel to the beach like they tell you to. I found it surreal that hundreds of people were just watching, no one tried to help. I wanted to and said as much, but knew that if I tried, there’d be one more person for him to have to save. After a few minutes, we saw him stand, carrying the boy. He brought him all the way to the shore, then stood there talking with the Mother. Why weren’t people clapping and cheering? Why were there no cell phones recording this sacrificial act that saved a life? Why in God’s name was the Mother standing there talking to the lifeguard easy as can be as if they were discussing the weather?
My husband asked me if I was ok. I wasn’t. I don’t know why this affected me so deeply, but it did, it shook me. That could’ve been my child. Or my husband, my God, what would I have done, then? I glanced around. No one pulled their child away from the water, no one’s eyes stung with tears as mine did, no eyes followed the lifeguard back to his stand. Why? Hadn’t everyone just seen what I saw? This young man didn’t know that boy who had wondered too far, didn’t know his mother. He knew there was a terrible pulling current in the waves, and that there could be sharks, but he did not hesitate. Not even a little. He dove in. He risked his life. He was given no praise, no cheers, not even the gratification of a mother’s thankful tears. But he did it. He did his job.
I can’t tell you how this affected me. A few moments later, the red flags were put up, no more swimming. I sat and held my little one close in the sand, so that the tips of the waves would wash our feet. I thanked God for those who do their job with no thanks, no recognition, at great risk to their personal safety. What a monumental, amazing, thing happened on that beach yesterday, and yet, the fact that Michael Jordan was in the local fishing tournament was much bigger news. How sad is our media-manipulated world.
