My daughter and her boyfriend have a boat they take out on the water. They wear life jackets as required by law here when they water ski, ride tubes, etc. Still, I can't help but worry sometimes. I wonder if, in an accident, she would be strong enough to hang on until help arrives.
Early this spring, four young, healthy, strong football players were fishing in a boat in the Gulf of Mexico...a boat that capsized late in the day. All four were wearing life jackets and, according to news reports, three of the four had taken theirs off at some point. They let go, they gave up, they stopped hanging on. The lone survivor, found clinging to the overturned hull of the vessel after two days, was still wearing his life jacket. He was still hanging on. He never gave up, he never let go.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend that made me think about those life jackets. It made me think about hanging on. Sometimes life piles things on us that wears us down. We get tired, we lose focus, we drift. If we're smart, if we're lucky, we have a "life jacket" in our life to help us remain afloat when things go awry. We have someone who will urge us to hang on and not let go. We have someone who, when we are tired and worn down and ready to let go will say, ..."Hold on tight and don't let go!". If we are lucky we have someone who understands that holding on is the only way to fight for what we want. Fight for what is ours. If we are lucky we have that life jacket.
Sometimes that life jacket is more useful on land than it is in the water. Sometimes we can't live without it.
Life jacket .... Indeed!
Early this spring, four young, healthy, strong football players were fishing in a boat in the Gulf of Mexico...a boat that capsized late in the day. All four were wearing life jackets and, according to news reports, three of the four had taken theirs off at some point. They let go, they gave up, they stopped hanging on. The lone survivor, found clinging to the overturned hull of the vessel after two days, was still wearing his life jacket. He was still hanging on. He never gave up, he never let go.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend that made me think about those life jackets. It made me think about hanging on. Sometimes life piles things on us that wears us down. We get tired, we lose focus, we drift. If we're smart, if we're lucky, we have a "life jacket" in our life to help us remain afloat when things go awry. We have someone who will urge us to hang on and not let go. We have someone who, when we are tired and worn down and ready to let go will say, ..."Hold on tight and don't let go!". If we are lucky we have someone who understands that holding on is the only way to fight for what we want. Fight for what is ours. If we are lucky we have that life jacket.
Sometimes that life jacket is more useful on land than it is in the water. Sometimes we can't live without it.
Life jacket .... Indeed!
2 comments:
Everyone has or needs their life jacket. I have a life jacket, a safety line and a parachute.
If any one facet of my life crumbles, I have a support option. You cannot have your significant other by your only life jacket, what if they get splatched on the railroad, or go astray? You drown as your life jacket burns.
So, keep well connected, and be ready.
No amount of help helps, unless you want to be helped. If you help your helpers, then the rescue is faster and easier. Thing is, you have to want to be rescued.
Oh, and literally on the boating front. Radio, flares, personal locator beacon, and tell people where you're going, and when you expect to return, and try to keep to the plan, it helps your rescuers with a meaningful search pattern.
"So, keep well connected, and be ready."
Great advice Alex....and I love your way of thinking... you really do have to want to be rescued!
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