When I was younger, I used to like to water ski. I was ok at it. Sometimes I could even go on one ski and was able to maintain my balance. Then all of a sudden a wake from a nearby boat, or if we were doing circles, our boat, would cause very choppy water and down into the cold waters (Buffalo Pound Lake and Diefenbaker Lake in Saskatchewan were never warm even in August). I learned the power that even small wakes have that upset the stillest waters.
It was something people wanted to do. In Texas, along Lake Travis, near Austin, several people thought it would be a good idea to hold a naval parade to support Donald Trump. However, something went horribly wrong. Five boats were sunk in the lake and one person is still in ICU with a broken back. It was a horrible tragedy that came from this tiny parade.
Reading an eye witness account of the event, said that the weather in South Central Texas that day was very calm. The ships were not capsized due to storms. So what caused the choppy waters on the lake then? The eyewitness said it was the wakes from some of the larger ships that were going much too fast on the lake. As some of the larger boats tried to race with each other, they caused such huge wakes, that five boats sank in the turbulent water. Because some boat owners had to prove that they had the fastest boats with the biggest motors, one person may never walk again and thousands of dollars worth of boats lie at the bottom of the lake.
The eyewitness said that he himself goes to the lake often on long weekends. This particular weekend of the cruise was no busier than other weekends. The collection of small boats and large boats weren't different either. But what was different was the speeds that some of the larger boats were travelling. This naval drag race doesn't occur on most weekends. On the weekend of the Trump regatta though, the large boats did race and that seemed to cause the carnage.
I think the story of this regatta gives us a good example of how we should live in life. All of us muddle through our lives in some fashion. Oh sure some of us enjoy the life of Riley, and others struggle, but we somehow get by. For the most part we manage our journey through the waters of life. But then there are certain folks who push their way to the front, who demand special service, who feel that they should do whatever they want and don't care how their actions affect others. When even a few people act as if they are self important and privileged, others suffer. The bumpy waves of life would be easier for all if a few individuals did not go through life at full throttle. Blessings.
