I don't remember not being able to swim. My mom enrolled me in swimming lessons at the local junior high during the summers while I was growing up. I started when I was pretty little I guess. My last post reminded me of how grateful I am for the blessing of being able to swim. This post is about why.
I never knew that there were people who didn't know how to swim until my first or second year of scout camp. I always just thought that was a funny cartoon thing, when the character gets pushed in the water and then yells, "help me, I can't swim, I can't swim!" In actuality it is a little scary though. The scout camp that I went to had a glacier fed lake (I'm not sure if it was really fed by a glacier, but it was cold enough to take your breath away) and on the first or day of camp the troop would go down to the water and take the swimming test. In groups of 4 we would go out onto the diving board and then jump in and swim about 4 25 yard laps. My cousins and I went first. To get the top rating, that would let you swim or boat anywhere on the lake, you had to swim down and back freestyle and then use two different strokes to finish the next down and back. For my cousins and I, in the first group, it was no problem. In we jumped. Down and back we swam, twice. Done. Easy.
The next group was a little different. They all got out on the board and when the lifeguard said go... they stood there. Those of us who had just finished started saying, "com'on, let's go." It became obvious that those boys were ascared of the water. Finally one of them jumped in and doggy-paddled one length of the swimming area. Then he had to stop swimming and was given a second rate rating. The next guy did about the same thing. There were a couple other attempts made that I don't remember much about, but there was one scout who refused to get in the water. After much goading he finally took the plunge. He started flailing about and yelled, "I can't swim *splash, splash, gulp*, I can't swim." That was also the first, and only time, I've seen the shepherd's crook used to pull someone out of the water.
Hey everyone, teach your kids to swim. It could save their life... and at least save some embarrassment.
Where you lived in AZ, swimming was a necessary as walking as walking without looking could land you in a friend's swimming pool - it was just a way of life. I was so grateful when all my kids knew how to swim and a few simple lifesaving techniques!
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