My wife related a story to me yesterday that I have to pass on to you and, maybe, just maybe, two of the folks reading this are the parents in question.
My wife and one of her friends to the beach several days ago (bayside) to enjoy a little bit of sun and, of course, company. As she describes it, the day at the beach was coming to an end so she and her friend went out into the water one last time. The ventured out to about 4 feet or so in depth. As they spoke, my wife faced the shore and her friend, the bay. Suddenly, my wife's friend had a look close to panic on her face and pointed to her left. My wife turned and saw a little girl, who couldn't have been more than 3 years old, literally, fighting for her life in that 4 feet of water after falling off of the "boogie board" she was on. She was NOT wearjing a life vest and there was no one within 20 yards of her. My wife hurried over to this little girl and, literally, scooped her up. The little one had taken in some water so there was alot of coughinh and, then, crying. My wife looked around and saw two children, probably early teens, floating on their boards on their backs not even noticing. As she walked to the shore, my wife saw a group of people whom she assumed has something to do with this little girl. Keep in mind that this little girl is still crying and scared out of her mind after fighting to stay afloat out as far as she was.
As my wife approached the group, she asked who the mother might be. Another woman walked up to her and pointed to another woman in the group who still hadn't noticed her crying little girl in my wife's arms. The woman, who approached, took the little girl and walked back to the group. No "thank you" or anything for my wife. Then, the whole group began berating the two young teens in the water for not watching the little girl close enough (look at the example these two kids had!).....and, then, they all went back to their group "discussion" never acknowledging my wife or her friend for, pretty much, saving the little girl from drowning.
Whe she told me this story, I couldn't help but remember a line from the movie "Parenthood" from, all of all people, Keanu Reeves, which I'll paraphrase - "You have to get a license to drive, heck you even need a license to fish but they'll let anyone be a parent".
One can only wonder how this will affect the little girl. I do hope parents eventually realized the error of their ways.
