I posted this article as a status on FB a few days ago, but I think it is of such importance, I want to post it again to be sure more will see it.  If you feel it has merit, and desire to do so…feel free to repost this on your blog.

The new captain jumped from the cockpit, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the owners who were swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”
How did this captain know, from fifty feet away, what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten?

Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect.

 The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story.

 Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D.,  is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water.  And it does not look like most people expect.  There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind.  To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: 

 It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.  In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). 

 Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. Th e respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.

Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.

Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.

Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.

From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.
(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006)

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experience aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in there own rescue.  They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are n the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level

Head tilted back with mouth open

Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus

Eyes closed

Hair over forehead or eyes

Not using legs – Vertical

Hyperventilating or gasping

Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway

Trying to roll over on the back

So if a crew member falls overboard and every looks O.K. – don’t be too sure.  Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning.  They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. 

One  way to be sure?  Ask them: “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are.  If they return  a blank stare – you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. 

And parents: children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.

IMPORTANT  FYI: 

Water wings, floaties, whatever you call these things…are NOT designed to be life preserver.  Do not depend on these to to do what a life jacket will do.  It is easy to find a Coast Guard approved life jacket.  I have seen them at places like Target, Wal-Mart and Dicks.  These are fine to use if you are with your child, but I have seen these pop while on the child.  Be careful!

Oh! My!  I have a new computer.  Thanks to my sweet Pop, I am the owner of my first Mac.  It is so pretty, and learning it is easier than I thought.  I’ve only tried to learn a few little things….’cause I know me.  Put too many things out there for me to grasp…I just forget them all!  So, I will go slow.  Very s-l-o-w-l-y.  And, hopefully, I can become proficient at this in a few years!

I had just used my Dell to death.  The screen kept falling down, and the clicker places didn’t want to click anymore.  So, it was more like a soft push than a click and often I would think I clicked…but I didn’t!  ANYWAY, everyone I have talked to says that the Mac is so much better and easier to use.  We’ll see.

So far, I haven’t gotten any of my pictures over here.  Just my blog stuff.  HA!  I say that like I had something to do with it!  I did nothing but watch as Alex worked his magic!  I wouldn’t even attempt it without the boys to guide me!

Back to the pictures.  I have all our family pics there.  And, I like to collect pictures.  I have all sorts of pictures…balloons, celebrations, animals, baby things, Bible verses, sayings I like, summer, winter, spring, fall, etc.  I imagine that I have about quite a few…lots…way too many…289 folders, to be exact.  I know!  It’s ridiculous.  Excess…I seem to always go overboard!  But, this time it’s OK.  Nothing to have to find a place to store…no money spent…no guilt about my collection.  Plus, it just makes me happy to look at them from time to time.   Since my friend, Just a Beach Kat, showed me how to ‘right click and save’  I’ve found too many pics that I just want to have.  So, I do! And, I always have the picture I need when it’s time to add one.

My other big problem is really a tiny one.  The words…they are so small, I can hardly read them.  I have tried everything that I know to do, to make them bigger.  No luck.  I mean they are smaller than small.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I wear tri focals.  Or the fact that my eyes are over 50 years old.  All I know is that I want the letters bigger..BIGGER…even all caps is still too small.  I’ll set the boys to work on it and they’ll figure it out.  That’s what I keep them around for! 🙂

So, I’ll keep working away, learning things I didn’t even know I didn’t know.  Bear with me now…I tend to go a little slow.  But if you see me looking like this…

…you’ll know I’ve been at it too long!

I suppose you would have to be living on an island, in the middle of the ocean…and not the good kind of island, either.  I’m talking about a few trees and a strip of sand…and not a television or computer in sight…to not know that this week is the end of The Oprah Show.  They have been talking about it since she announced it in 2009.  She’s leaving Wednesday…..25 years she has been doing her television show.  25 years!   That means I was only 23 years old when it started!    OK…maybe it was 33. 

There are many people who think many things about Oprah.  Some think she hung the moon.  Some think she is the greatest thing to ever happen to television.  Some think she is too liberal.  Some think she is a Christian.  Some say she couldn’t possibly know the Lord.  Some think she is beautiful.  Some think she can not be beautiful because she is a different color than them.  Some think she has helped countless number of people.  Some think she has done it all for her own glory. Some think she has led many down the wrong path, others think she has shown the the only way.   I can not say if any of these things are true or false.  But, I can say what I think.  So, here goes…

Monday and Tuesday there have been shows honoring Oprah and some of her accomplishments.  They were held at the United Center in Chicago, a small, intimate theater that seats 30,000!!!  And, from the looks of it, every seat was filled.  The shows were filled with surprise guests that included the elite in the entertainment industry.  She was very gracious to all and shed many tears…even going into the ‘ugly cry’ as she calls it.  The talent was non stop, as if they were trying to get as many folks into the program as possible.  There were the young and the old there to honor her.  And, honor her they did! 

It is true that she has led  an extraordinary life.  And, she is to be commended for all the good she has done.    Being from a small town and a poor family, as she gained popularity, she quickly became a nation wide leader.  Her passion has been education.  I learned that because of her 64,688 people have been given an education…throughout the world.  She has given 415 scholarships to Moorhouse College for black men.  Her thought was if you’ take the underprivileged black man and see that he gets a good education…you change not only his life, but also the life of a whole family.’  It should be noted that among these men are doctors, lawyers, professors, astronauts,business men…and together, these 415 have given over $300,000 to the scholarship fund to see that even more young black men can take advantage of a better life.  She has started schools in Africa, and several other countries.  These young men and women now have the tools to change the life they have been born into.  She has also started education opportunities for poor women in undeveloped countries.  They then are able to provide for their families and help train others.  

 She single handedly started a new movement geared at reading.  Her book club of 65 books through out the years, has opened the eyes of  many who had not read in years.  A recommendation from her could make or break a book.  I personally  read about 20 of the books she recommended. and I throughly enjoyed all but one.   Her club consisted not onlynewly published books, but, some of the enduring classics of great literature.

 She has built whole neighborhoods for victims of Katrina.  She raised many more millions to build more. 

She started the movement of  ‘not texting while driving’.  Many, many signed a pledge to forego this practice.  Who knows how many lives this has saved? 

People on the show were saying what they had learned from her shows through the years.  Which got me to thinking.  Have I learned anything from her ?  I like to think of myself as having a brain that knows so much, there is no room for new things within.  HA!  I realize, the older I get, that I don’t have any idea just how much I don’t know!  Nevertheless, these are some of the things I learned from her:

1.  When you know better, you do better. 

2.  When someone shows you who they are, believe them. 

3.  Trust your instincts. 

4. As Mothers, we should always show excitement whenever we see our children. 

5.  Surround yourself only with those who lift you up and make you better. 

6.  Everyone has a story.

7.  The weaknesses and the addictions we all have are due to the emotions, the beliefs, the habits and the patterns stored deep inside ourselves.   Some of them are ours and some are adopted from our culture, family or friends.  I have to unearth these for myself.

8.  Bras, jeans, Spanx and poop.

So, it is now Thursday morn…I waited to post because I wanted to post about her last show.  I was shocked, to say the least.  In case you didn’t see.  She was on stage alone and spent the whole time talking.  No guests, though a few celebrities in the audience.  She talked about what she had done, what she had learned, and what she was most proud of. 

When she was asked how she had done the show and all it has entailed for 25 years  she said– “My team, and Jesus. Because nothing but the hand of God has made this possible for me.” Anticipating questions about which god she was talking about, she continued, “I’m talking about the same one you’re talking about. I’m talking about alpha and omega, the omniscient, the omnipresent, the ultimate consciousness, the source, the force, the all of everything there is, the one and only G-O-D.   I know I’ve never been alone, and you haven’t either,” she said. “And I know that that presence that flows, some people call it grace, is working in my life at every single turn, and yours too if you let it in.” 

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Now that the 21 st has come and gone…and no Rapture….we can put it behind us.  Here are some things I ran across on the Internet today.  And, yes, I am looking forward to the real Rapture !

The world did not end yesterday,  It is just being rebooted.  Please be sure your security software is up to date.  Run a full scan of your life and remove any malicious files which may be damaging your joy, stealing your hope,or slowing down your blessings.If you should need more instructions, please refer to your User’s Manual, which should be readily available.or pur your hands together, bow your head and contact Tech Support!  *1

 *2

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 Matthew 24:36,  “Regarding the date and time…only the Father knows.”  

***1 Pam Colarusso 

***2 Kat Davenport