Facts tell but stories sell, so instead of giving the numbers who die by drowning every year I am going to tell you a story about a little boy who was saved and the moral of that story.
The toastmasters International Harrovian Toastmasters Speakers Club Meeting In London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
The Challenge - A Lesson Learned In childhood
In London, England, at a Toastmasters meeting, Harrovian Speakers, one of the table topics for impromptu speeches was, tell a story from your childhood which changed your view of the world.
Indian Flag
Drowning Danger Story
The speaker described how as a small child in India he chased a duck into a pond, further and further out until he was up to his neck and it was still out of reach.
One more step and he might have it in his clutches. But one more step and he might drown. He did not know how to swim!
At this moment a hand grabbed him by the shoulders. The helping hand pulled him back to safety. It was his older sister.
The Moral - Needing Teamwork, Support, Protection
At that point a realization came over him, that having an older person to always be there to rescue him was vital to his survival.
UK flag.
When he reached London, England, he knew nobody. He had nobody to help him, look after him rescue him. He realised he had to create a family, to make friends at work, marry and have a family and an extended family of in-laws, join a club such as Toastmasters and have friends who could listen, watch, advise and literally lend a hand.
He realised that for both the individual, the family, any group, and the country, you need a team so that the older ones with more experience can help the younger ones out of trouble.
Tales From Toastmasters
I thought he was going to win the ribbon for best table topics. But he didn't. He was not the only person to tell a great story. Toastmasters meetings have so many interesting stories from interesting people. You find out things about others, and about yourself.
Practical Lessons - Learn Swimming
And the moral of the story - there's a second practical moral. Learn to swim and insist that everybody in your family knows how to swim. As soon as I found out that I was pregant with our son I insisted that my husband should learn to swim. I should have sent him to learn life-saving as well. Swimming can save you and you can save somebody smaller. But if you go to help somebody the same size and they grap you by the neck, then you both sink and drown.
My Story Of Drowning My Mother
I know because when I was a teenager I nearly drowned my mother and she nearly downed me. I and my mother were in a pool in Spain at a hotel; and I was teaching her to swim.
Spanish flag.
She swam over the line dividing the shallow end from the deep end. I waited for her to come up, but she didn't. I shrieked and swam towards her. She grabbed me and we both sank. My father and another man heard me shriek and saw us both disappear. they dived in from opposite ends of the pool, disentangled my mother and towed her to the side.
Neither of them thought to help me. I was now coughing water and shaky from shock and desperately doggy paddled to the side.I learned that a swimmer cannot rescue a drowning person face to face. You have to get behind them out of reach of their arms and tow them backwards with their head up and out of the water so they can breathe.If you are taller and stronger, and have another person to help, even better.
Swimming Safer - Never Alone
A friend of mine in London, Sandra, used to live in a house which had a small garden swimming pool. Her husband, who was a doctor, forbade her to swim alone. She used to to invite her neighbours, or if they were out, me - I lived some distance away, to be there so she could swim if he was out.
Australia's Rules On Fencing Pools
The Australians investigated swimming accidents and safety and were surprised to find that the greatest number of deaths from drawning came not from the seaside but home swimming pools. Australia cut the death rate by drowning by making it mandatory for back yard pools to be fenced off and gated and locked when not in use.
I remember in a New Zealand post office reading the story of the stamp issued to commenorate this legislation.
Everyone Should Learn To Swim - Even Babies
Later I learned that in the USA black people suffered more chid fatalies from drowning becuse they did not know how to swim.
Later I larned that babies were being taught to swim in the USA.
You can even teach babies to float and swim before they can walk. See that on YouTube.
People spend money on lots of things, such as music lessons and sports, when their priority should be ensuring that all the family can swim.
Some people are afraid of the water. Swimming lessons cure that.
Call to Action
As soon as a child can walk, it can walk to the edge of a swimming pool, canal, lake, river, or the sea. Teach everybody to swim, your family, your school, your college, your club, your community.
Useful Websites
Book On Teaching Your Baby To Swim
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Your-Francoise-Barbira-Freedman
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
The toastmasters International Harrovian Toastmasters Speakers Club Meeting In London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
The Challenge - A Lesson Learned In childhood
In London, England, at a Toastmasters meeting, Harrovian Speakers, one of the table topics for impromptu speeches was, tell a story from your childhood which changed your view of the world.
Drowning Danger Story
The speaker described how as a small child in India he chased a duck into a pond, further and further out until he was up to his neck and it was still out of reach.
One more step and he might have it in his clutches. But one more step and he might drown. He did not know how to swim!
At this moment a hand grabbed him by the shoulders. The helping hand pulled him back to safety. It was his older sister.
The Moral - Needing Teamwork, Support, Protection
At that point a realization came over him, that having an older person to always be there to rescue him was vital to his survival.
When he reached London, England, he knew nobody. He had nobody to help him, look after him rescue him. He realised he had to create a family, to make friends at work, marry and have a family and an extended family of in-laws, join a club such as Toastmasters and have friends who could listen, watch, advise and literally lend a hand.
He realised that for both the individual, the family, any group, and the country, you need a team so that the older ones with more experience can help the younger ones out of trouble.
Tales From Toastmasters
I thought he was going to win the ribbon for best table topics. But he didn't. He was not the only person to tell a great story. Toastmasters meetings have so many interesting stories from interesting people. You find out things about others, and about yourself.
Practical Lessons - Learn Swimming
And the moral of the story - there's a second practical moral. Learn to swim and insist that everybody in your family knows how to swim. As soon as I found out that I was pregant with our son I insisted that my husband should learn to swim. I should have sent him to learn life-saving as well. Swimming can save you and you can save somebody smaller. But if you go to help somebody the same size and they grap you by the neck, then you both sink and drown.
My Story Of Drowning My Mother
I know because when I was a teenager I nearly drowned my mother and she nearly downed me. I and my mother were in a pool in Spain at a hotel; and I was teaching her to swim.
She swam over the line dividing the shallow end from the deep end. I waited for her to come up, but she didn't. I shrieked and swam towards her. She grabbed me and we both sank. My father and another man heard me shriek and saw us both disappear. they dived in from opposite ends of the pool, disentangled my mother and towed her to the side.
Neither of them thought to help me. I was now coughing water and shaky from shock and desperately doggy paddled to the side.I learned that a swimmer cannot rescue a drowning person face to face. You have to get behind them out of reach of their arms and tow them backwards with their head up and out of the water so they can breathe.If you are taller and stronger, and have another person to help, even better.
Swimming Safer - Never Alone
A friend of mine in London, Sandra, used to live in a house which had a small garden swimming pool. Her husband, who was a doctor, forbade her to swim alone. She used to to invite her neighbours, or if they were out, me - I lived some distance away, to be there so she could swim if he was out.
Flag of Asutralia.
Australia's Rules On Fencing Pools
The Australians investigated swimming accidents and safety and were surprised to find that the greatest number of deaths from drawning came not from the seaside but home swimming pools. Australia cut the death rate by drowning by making it mandatory for back yard pools to be fenced off and gated and locked when not in use.
I remember in a New Zealand post office reading the story of the stamp issued to commenorate this legislation.
My American Experience
When I lived in the USA in Rockville, Maryland, our condo's pool had a huge wire fence like a tennis court. Two high chairs for liefguards were by the pool. You needed two lifeguards so that when one went to the toilet or to speak to somebody, the other was still watching the pool. I was told the insurance company demanded this.
Everyone Should Learn To Swim - Even Babies
Later I learned that in the USA black people suffered more chid fatalies from drowning becuse they did not know how to swim.
Later I larned that babies were being taught to swim in the USA.
You can even teach babies to float and swim before they can walk. See that on YouTube.
People spend money on lots of things, such as music lessons and sports, when their priority should be ensuring that all the family can swim.
Some people are afraid of the water. Swimming lessons cure that.
Call to Action
As soon as a child can walk, it can walk to the edge of a swimming pool, canal, lake, river, or the sea. Teach everybody to swim, your family, your school, your college, your club, your community.
Useful Websites
Book On Teaching Your Baby To Swim
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaching-Your-Francoise-Barbira-Freedman
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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