To Save A Life...

...To Save a Life

The other day, I was out at the park next to the marina having a nice kick-backed time with some dear friends of mine. We had been at the park, cooking up some spicy tidbits on the barbie - just hanging...We took a walk to the north side of the lake to feed some ducklings and their mom - who were swimming near the marsh next to the wooden bridge. There were people fishing off the bridge. People were everywhere. It was a bright sunny day - after all. I noticed a couple of kids running around - back and forth across the bridge and just having fun... And then it happened.The two kids stopped running and went over to the edge of the lake to look at the water. I heard someone say, "That kid is going to fall into the water!" I glanced over and saw the two kids leaning over the cement retaining wall; looking at the water. And then, as if on cue - the kid with the bushy blonde hair - just face planted into the lake and sank like a rock! He was maybe six or seven years old. Dunno... His little friend just stared at the water. My mind raced. No one moved. Where were this kid's parents? Who was watching this disaster in the making?

My mind went back to another day - when I was four years old...My family had been on a camping trip with a private club in the jungles of Peru... There was an old Olympic sized pool full of green mirky water - and someone got the bright idea to throw me in the deep end of the pool. I didn't know how to swim. My mom, who was one of the camp leaders, just screamed as I flew through the air and sank into the deep, dark waters. Down, down, down I went. To this day I can remember thinking, "I am going to die... don't open your mouth!" "Hold on tight!" I was talking to myself, as the weeds and algae floated past... I just kept going down to the bottom of the pool. No one came to rescue me. After what seemed like a lifetime, I began to float back to the surface. I could hear people screaming, "Swim!" I just wanted to breathe...

It's funny how in a moment, in the life and death balancing act - the mind seems to slow down and stop - all the while flashing millions of bits of information in front of your eyes, like a movie re-winding in slow-motion. To save a life... we never know when we will be asked to make a split decision - To save a life. Life is a profound mystery. Precious... Unexplainable......

My mind raced. Yet I was calm. Without thinking I ran. I ran to the edge of the water, looking for a body in the frigid waters. I didn't think about the cell phone in my pocket or the wallet with all my identification; melted in a second. I just reacted on all the memories which were flashing through my mind... I jumped into the icy water. People were standing on the shore when I emerged from the lake with a little boy looking so scared. I yelled at him, "Breathe!" It was de ja vu all over again. My life had come full circle. In that scared little face I came face to face with my life. All the sadness. All the heartache, in an instant, was gone. Seeing that little boy run off with his friend into the crowd brought tears to my eyes... My world will forever be changed. Eventhough no parent stepped forward to say thanks - eventhough I'm sure I will never see that little boy again - I feel as if my world has taken on some new kind of meaning. I'm sure it will... I know what it means - to save a life.