The other day, I was chatting with the chief lifeguard at our neighborhood swimming pool about his experience in rescuing people and my memories of my experience in a similar situation half a century ago. In thinking back, I was reminded of Benny. I told the lifeguard the story and asked what he would have done.
One of my college summers was spent as the waterfront director at a state-operated boy’s camp in the mountains of Kentucky. I had worked as a lifeguard for several years. I had made several rescues. I had my water safety instructor rating from the American Red Cross, and I was fervent about the responsibility any lifeguard assumes. So I took very seriously the task of teaching lifesaving and awarding senior Red Cross certificates to those who passed my course.
We got a different group of boys each week, and the lifesaving and other courses took up two hours of each day. I usually began by requiring my students to swim a couple of hundred yards using the basic strokes. But the week Benny came with his group, we had a severe rain storm that wiped out our activities on the first day. With only four days left, I started on the instruction without doing the swimming test.
Benny was a very nice boy, gentle in manner, enthusiastic, willing to do anything he was told, and very excited about being trained as a lifeguard. But I recognized after the first session that he was not an adequate swimmer. I mentioned this to the camp director, who encouraged me to keep Benny in the course.
One of the basics of lifeguarding is that you go into the water without flotation devices to pull out a foundering swimmer only as a last resort. But you need the strength and confidence to swim out to a drowning person, calm him, prevent him from grabbing you, put a controlling hold on him, and swim back to shallow water. So I taught the Red Cross–approved techniques. The course ended when I required each pupil to rescue me without any helping devices.
When it was Benny’s turn, I came in closer and gave him no resistance or struggle. But after a couple of strokes, I had to tow him in. I flunked Benny on the course. The others all passed. When I handed my records to the camp director, I mentioned what I had done.
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