My Lifeguard: A Short Story

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You never know how helpless you are until you have a near death experience. One summer, when I was young, my family and I went to a water park. I didn’t know how to swim, but thankfully the majority of the park required no swimming ability. For one of the rides, I wanted to get out of my tube and jump around, but once I climbed out, I immediately sunk to the bottom. I tried to kick back up and just as my legs gave in, a lifeguard climbed in and pulled me up. I was grateful to him, but something was bothering me. I couldn’t save myself. That was the moment I decided that I was going to become a lifeguard someday to help myself and many others. Ten years later, after tons of swim lessons and practices, I fulfilled my goal. My first job as a certified lifeguard was to monitor a …show more content…

My nerves from the first class unexpectedly came rushing back. These students grew into great swimmers, but I knew that the depth of the water could petrify them. The first few students were able to swim back up with little to no effort, but the last girl lost her footing and slipped into the pool and couldn 't resurface. I froze as I saw her struggling to swim and breathe. My mind quickly flashed back to the time I jumped out of my tube and almost drowned. Then I remembered that I was no longer that little girl who couldn 't swim. I was the adult in charge of saving people 's lives. I quickly dove down to rescue the helpless body. We resurfaced and she was coughing, but still alive and breathing. Until that moment, I never fully understood how much pressure lifeguards are under. During all those classes, I thought my nerves just disappeared, but they can never entirely go away. Anything can happen at any time and a wrong move or bad timing can be the difference between life and death. Thinking on my feet and not knowing what the future holds for me is part of the process of growing

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