Things that make me wonder on a rainy day

Woke up to another day of clouds and rain. These dreary days of August allow me to think and wonder what are people thinking about.

Earlier this summer four young adults two males and two females decided to head to the lake and go swimming. No lifeguards, little daylight, and waves over six foot and coming in from the North East. The two young males never stood a chance. Two young males who will never experience the joys of fatherhood. Two young males who will never experience growing old with a woman and enjoying the love only a woman can provide. Two young males who will never experience being a young adult entering into manhood. So young, so naive, and so much lost.

When I was young beating the heat and going down to the lake was the thing to do, never mind the pollutants and the under tows. But for every childhood friend we lost a new found respect was made for the treacherous lake. Every summer brought news of another classmate that tried to beat the odds and lost. It is the very reason that I made sure that my children went to pools with lifeguards and clean water. But as I think about this incident I wonder if I did my children a disservice by not teaching them the perils of swimming in waters where the depth is unknown, the water is not clear, and not having a lifeguard watching your every move. I should have taught them to respect mother nature and all of it's forces instead of taking the easy road and sheltering them from it's dangers.

All the time I was growing up seeing children swim in exclusive pools and playing in exclusive parks, wondering what it was like to be able to enjoy what some felt was the better things in life was really not all that important. Learning from nature and being able to look back on those experiences was far more enjoyable and valuable than any exclusive country club. I wish I would have passed what I considered hardships as a child on to my children. I wish someone would have passed those same hardships on to those four young adults who decided to take a swim on that fateful night earlier this past summer.


I am the Walrus