By Kristen Paquet, Account Executive, Leonard & Finco Public Relations, Inc.
Then I saw Dale on TV.
Dale is a 12 year-old boy who took a trip to the beach off the shores of Washington with his church group on August 5th. Dale waded a few feet into the water only to be swept up by a riptide that took him farther and farther out from the shore. Several people tried to save him, but the current was just too strong, the waves too high. One minute Dale was yelling for help, the next he was gone.
When emergency personnel arrived and went into the water to find Dale, they weren’t very optimistic about the outcome. But after several minutes of searching, they found Dale and brought him to shore, not breathing and with no pulse. Dale had been underwater for 20 minutes.
Call it luck, a miracle, faith, effective CPR, whatever. The emergency responders didn’t give up and after minutes of treating Dale, they felt a pulse. He had survived. After four days in a medically induced coma, he opened his eyes.
It isn’t the story about Dale’s unbelievable brush with death that day that made me take notice, it was the story about his recovery. There I was, complaining about having too much to do while this young boy was in the hospital, learning how to walk and talk all over again. Dale continues to go through hours of intense therapy in order to do the simple tasks we all take for granted.
This story gave me a great thing: perspective. It made me take pause for a moment and remember how lucky I really am. When you look at what this 12 year-old boy has had to go through and how strong he is, I realize that I really have no reason to complain about my daily tasks. In fact, bring them on.
Has there been a story you’ve heard about that has given you a bit of perspective? Please feel free to share!
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