In honor of National Learn How to Swim Day, I thought it’d be great to share a personal story in regards to how important it is to learn how to swim. Back in high school, going to the lake was one of the things you just had to do at least twice in the summer time, its almost like a tradition Arkansans do when there’s nothing to do. I went a couple of times, for the sake of my friends and boredom, but never really was a fan of being in dirty water.
During my junior year I met a guy named Elijah that was a new student from Denver and at the time, having a new black student was really exciting because we didn’t have too many black people in the town, so every black kid at school wanted to be friends with him. Lucky for me, I got to get to know him a little better because we rode the same bus from and to school. We began dating later on that year and it was great until he started hanging around people that were really no good.
It was a defining moment where I had to look at my life and say, okay, I have to be even more cautious of what circumstances I could be put in.
Well, when the summer rolled around, we parted ways and he started dating someone else. I didn’t get to see him in the summer time until I saw on the news that he drowned in Beaver Lake, the lake everyone goes to. I found out when I was at work when everyone kept mentioning an Elijah that died the day before. I went to my boss’s office to look up which Elijah they were talking about and once I read the article, my eyes began to fill up with tears and I broke down. Story was that he wasn’t drinking or smoking but was out with a couple of friends and current girlfriend at Beaver Lake and he went into the deeper part of the lake and didn’t have enough energy to swim back. Since I was almost done with my shift, my manager let me grieve until it was time to clock out. I got in the car and told my mom the news and cried again. I just couldn’t believe someone that was close to me was gone.
It was a defining moment where I had to look at my life and say, okay, I have to be even more cautious of what circumstances I could be put in. That made me take life very seriously and really made me look forward to my senior year of high school and making sure that I enjoyed it because not everyone is promised another moment. After that, my mother wasted no time in signing my siblings up for swim lessons which is great because now they know the basics and can possibly prevent a drowning from happening around them.
A year later in my freshman year of college, I was faced with a similar situation. I was involved with another guy that also died of drowning in a lake, in the summer time. He was out in the park, with his friends, and because the people around him didn’t know how to swim, they couldn’t save him from drowning. After that, I was even more nervous than before to learn how to swim because the people I cared for died in water so my interest in being in a pool or a lake was done for. I didn’t want anything to do with water unless I was taking a shower or washing my hair/hands.
Now that it has been a year from Zemaric’s death and two years from Elijah’s death, I’ve been able to come into terms with the importance of learning how to swim because of those two situations. I feel it’s imperative that I need to know how to swim. Drowning rates are highest among black males at 47%; according to USA Today, black children ages 5-19 drown in swimming pools at a rate more than five times that of white children because we, black people, are simply not learning how to swim. With that information and my personal experiences, I have to learn how to swim and encourage other black people to learn how to swim as well because swimming is a life-saving skill, not just a sport.
Brittany Walker is a journalism major at Arkansas Tech University. She started writing blogs just a year ago after she found an interest in creative writing. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.
