Deep Water

What would it feel like to you if you were drowning? Not being able to tell which direction was up and which was down, not being able to breathe. This is exactly how the main character in Deep Water feels when he is thrown into a pool without knowing how to swim. Even though he was thinking of what to do when he hit the bottom, it was too far for him to go down and not run out of air. It’s easy to relate to this character, since everyone usually feels this way when you are first learning how to swim. Deep Water, by William O. Douglas, writes a short story about an experience he had that is simple for me to relate to.

Swimming was basically second nature to me. Doing strokes like the butterfly came naturally to me, as did other strokes. Yet, there was one part of swimming that I was terrified to do: the diving board. This frightening object was positioned at the far end of the pool, down by the nine-foot section. Diving off the end of that plank was literally death to my eyes. One day for class, when I was only eight years old, every member of class had to jump off of it and into the water below. Of course, there would be someone to grab us after we jumped, but we were jumping alone. While I was waiting in line for my turn, I thought of no less than ten ways to get out of doing this. None was able to get put into action before it was my turn. All I remember was standing on the end of the board, not climbing up onto it. Looking down on the clear turquoise water below, it felt like death was looking me straight in the eyes. Knowing that everyone was staring at me, I took a deep breath and jump into the water below. It felt like the fall lasted forever, even though it was only for about three seconds. When I slammed into the water, the first thing I thought was, I’m never going to be able to come back up. I’ll be stuck here for the rest of my life. Before the hysteria could kick in, I was grabbed and pulled out of the water. Relief flooded my mind. William couldn’t remember when he was pulled out of the water, which is terrifying to me. Not knowing if I was out of the water, not knowing if I would ever be pulled out again.

Even though almost everyone can make connections with this story, no one can connect more with it than the author himself. William was only ten or eleven years old when he was thrown in the YMCA pool in Yakima. This one traumatic day of his life made him afraid of water for about three to four years before he could overcome this fear of water. Why did William O. Douglas share this story with the world? I believe that he wanted to show people that you can always overcome your fear of something, even though you’re terrified. Connection is easy to make with Deep Water, since once I was also afraid of swimming. Of course, like William, I overcame my fear eventually. The author is trying to tell us that everyone came overcome their fear. There is nothing to fear but fear itself.

William O. Douglas’s Deep Water is a great reflection piece that is simple to connect to. This short story shows us what happens when one horrible experience scares people out of overcoming fears. What would you do if what happened to William happened to you? Would you be able to get back in the water? Deep Water, by William O. Douglas, writes a beautiful story about overcoming fears and believing in yourself.