<p>My wife just pointed out this article to me </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-drowned1jul11,0,4325523.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines[/url]”>http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-drowned1jul11,0,4325523.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines</a></p>
<p>An accomplished young man. Imagine what he could have done in his lifetime.</p>
<p>I truly wish I had known him. My heart goes out to all who did.</p>
<p>Here is an excerpt:
</p>
<p>His college majors: computer science, cognitive science, theater studies, linguistics/psychology and an individualized major in cinema, culture and cognition</p>
<p>His college minors: math, communications, business, production design and film studies</p>
<p>I read a story about this in a magazine awhile ago and this story reminded me of it (this is the first link I could find about it):</p>
<p><a href=“http://marksuppelsa.typepad.com/closerlook/2006/05/missing_drowned.html[/url]”>http://marksuppelsa.typepad.com/closerlook/2006/05/missing_drowned.html</a></p>
<p>It’s not really in the area or anything, so no connection, but their suspicion reminded me of it. It’s really a shame.</p>
<p>Whatever the Stamford case turns out to be it’s just a terrible shame. I hate quarries. They’re usually dark, cold, very deep and surrounded by rocks – the fact that kids love to swing over them or jump from up high just makes them an accident waiting to happen.</p>
<p>Okay, I find it terrible that a 22 year old can’t swim…If a parent has the minimum of resources, they can find a way to make sure their child can swim…</p>
<p>I am very saddened by the whole thing, but sometimes, when tragedy happens, maybe a lesson can come of it</p>
<p>I understand that this was probably a suicide or homocide, but to not give a child basic water safety, to me, is not looking after the best interests of your child… if you have the opportunity…I sound harsh, sure, but how many kids and people die because they don’t know the basics of swimming…</p>
<p>Swimming while wearing full clothes and shoes is very difficult, even for good swimmers. I was a competitive swimmer when I was young (ages 7-11, about), but once at camp we had a little swimming race where we had to wear pants, a hat, and a large button-up shirt, and it was a lot more difficult to swim that way. Many people who drown, even in calm waters who have no other injuries, simply get tired out. </p>
<p>I agree, though, that everyone who can should learn to swim. I’m not sure it would have helped much in this case, though. </p>
<p>Further, CGM, instead of focusing on things the parents may or may not have done wrong while raising their child, let’s focus on the fact they have just lost their smart, caring, dedicated son. I find it unusual and insensitive that your only words about that part of the issue are “I am very sadden by the whole thing, but […],” while the rest of your post is about the mistakes of the parents who are now mourning the loss of their child.</p>
<p>There is a popular quarry swim club near my house. It seems as if there is a person that drowns there every 1-2 years, while the lifeguards are on duty.</p>
<p>My kids know that they are NEVER to swim in a quarry. The bottom cannot be seen like a pool can, and if you hit your head and pass out, no one will find you. It doesn’t matter if you can swim.</p>
<p>That’s why you need a PFD when you’re on a boat or even canoeing. If you are unconscious, you can be found.</p>
<p>Well, I would also say the same thing about a parent who lost there child because they weren’t in a seatbelt or car seat</p>
<p>call it what you will, I find it insensative to not teach a child basic survival and something that is a life necessity</p>
<p>are we to ignore information that might have been a factor in someone’s death? maybe my post will remind another parent of the value of having some basic swimming lessons</p>
<p>maybe my point can save someone else’s life, as well, if this was no accident, what other issues can be discussed that might save another family from the same tragedy</p>
<p>I guess I am different, I don’t talk about death in a bubble- some times the circumstances involded need to be talked about to help others</p>
<p>“call it what you will, I find it insensative to not teach a child basic survival and something that is a life necessity”</p>
<p>Zoosersister attends a predominantly-black, inner city high schol that happens to have a pool. The principal is a black woman and she has made one semester of swim gym a requirement for graduation because as she puts it “black kids don’t learn to swim” and she wants to make sure that they can if they have to. It may not be pretty to say, but I don’t think she’s wrong, at least in the context of her own student body.</p>
<p>thought process as I read: wow, awesome kid, really tragic, at a quarry and can’t swim (somethings not right), can my kids swim…check, quarry “speech”…no…put it on the list.</p>
<p>So I Think CGM’s post is okay…never sugar coated…but on target in general.</p>
<p>As a nation we do a poor job of teaching essential life skills to our children. Swimming, first aid, personal finance</p>
<p>bonus points to cornell and other schools that demand life skills like swimming.</p>
<p>In the Talmud, there is an injunction for a Jewish parent to educate a child in Torah, teach the child a trade, and to bring him/her to the marriage canopy. Many have also added the provision of teaching one’s child to swim, under the idea of being able to save oneself or others.</p>
<p>There are some colleges which still have a swimming requirement for graduation. DS1 is applying to two of those schools (and dreading the prospect having to swim well enough to pass the course).</p>
<p>Even swimmers can be overtaken by fatigue, hit one’s head on a rock, etc. When I lived in Philadelphia, there was a highly regarded sculling coach who capsized and drowned in a freak accident.</p>