The joy that is other people

Just read Waiter Rant's latest entry and was reminded of the day my best friend almost drowned.

Lian had been swimming in a crowded public pool with her boyfriend KK. Lian is not a strong swimmer and dodging kids thrashing around isn't the easiest thing for her to do while trying to make it through a lap. Suddenly, midstroke, she was kicked hard in the stomach by goodness knows who. She was not near anything to grab (other than that stray foot). She panicked and swallowed water while struggling, and water eventually entered her lungs and she passed out from lack of air. The lifeguard was alerted and he pulled her out of the water and performed CPR on her, but she was still unconscious when the ambulance arrived. While KK was standing by the ambulance waiting for the paramedics to load her, he overheard a woman saying, presumably to her kid, "See that girl over there? If you don't learn to swim well you'll end up like her."

When I heard about this, I got pretty damn mad. Of all the things to say when someone almost drowns (and at that point, no one knew if she was going to survive), the least appropriate thing would be to blame the victim for the accident! If she wanted to be a good mum, she would firstly teach her kid not to join the ranks of the screaming monsters who hog pool sides, lunge into the path of swimmers doing laps and generally not care who they kick/smack/maul/drown while frolicking. Try teaching a little empathy, for one.