https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im ~William Douglas en-us 2020-06-29 12:37:22 UTC 2025-11-07 17:16:22 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/642972125 2020-06-29 13:38:57 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/642972125 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/642993150 When the author was three /four years old  his father took him to a beach in California. The mighty waves knocked him down and fright engulfed him. ]]> 2020-06-29 14:02:03 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/642993150 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/642996425 A few years later, he decides to learn swimming (ten or eleven years old). He selects the YMCA pool in Yakima for this purpose. ]]> 2020-06-29 14:05:42 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/642996425 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643001201 *The Yakima river was treacherous( mother reminding him of  people drowning there) 
*The pool was safe
It was only 2 or 3 feet deep at the shallow end and 9 feet deep at the other, the drop was gradual. ]]> 2020-06-29 14:11:07 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643001201 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643008628 It revived unpleasant memories and stirred childish fears. But he never succumbed to them. He paddled with his water wings and tried  learning by aping the other boys. ]]> 2020-06-29 14:18:12 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643008628 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643015265
One day when William reached the pool , no one was there and so he  sat on the edge waiting for other boys to arrive.]]> 2020-06-29 14:25:28 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643015265 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643021399 It had not been long since  he had been sitting by the pool when an eighteen year old big bruiser picked him up and tossed him into the nine feet deep end of the YMCA pool. He hit the water surface in a sitting position. He swallowed water and went at once to the bottom. ]]> 2020-06-29 14:31:51 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643021399 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643024940 While sinking down  he made a PLAN that he would make a big jump when his feet hit the bottom and then he would paddle to the edge of the pool. ]]> 2020-06-29 14:35:27 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643024940 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643067686 The story tells us how the writer overcame his fear of water and learned swimming with sheer determination and will power. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:18:59 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643067686 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643089779 When he reached the bottom, he jumped upward with all his strength. He came up but very slowly. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:41:20 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643089779 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643090813 He tried to catch hold of something like a rope but grasped only at water. He tried to shout but no sound came out. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:42:40 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643090813 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643092088 His lungs ached, head throbbed and he became dizzy. He was paralysed under water-stiff, rigid with fear. Even the screams in his throat were frozen. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:44:02 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643092088 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643092695 Only his heart, and the pounding in his head made him realise that he was alive. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:44:45 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643092695 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643094914 Then he jumped again with all his strength. But that jump made no difference. He looked for ropes, ladders, water wings but he could find nothing but water. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:46:09 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643094914 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643095430 Stark terror took an even deeper hold on him. He shook and trembled with fright. His arms and legs couldn't move. He tried to call for help but nothing happened. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:46:46 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643095430 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643095852 Then he started down a third time. He sucked for air and got water. Then all the effort ceased. ]]> 2020-06-29 15:47:19 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643095852 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643150238 He flailed at the surface of water. He tried to bring his legs up, but they hung as dead weights, paralysed and rigid. ]]> 2020-06-29 16:54:03 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643150238 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643153036 A great force was pulling him under. He screamed but only the water heard him. And he started to go down to the bottom of the pool. He lost all his breath. ]]> 2020-06-29 16:57:17 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643153036 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643157982 He relaxed. His legs felt limp and and a blackness swept over his brain. It wiped out fear. He felt quiet and peaceful. He was too tired to jump and he felt that he was going to sleep. ]]> 2020-06-29 17:02:46 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643157982 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643158480 He crossed to oblivion and the curtain of the life fell. ]]> 2020-06-29 17:03:24 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643158480 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643492567 Next, when he woke up he was lying beside the pool surrounded by the boy who threw him and some others.]]> 2020-06-30 01:34:27 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643492567 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643493310 Hours later, he walked home, weak and trembling. This incident had such a shocking impact that even the slightest exertion made him sick. He never went back to the pool.]]> 2020-06-30 01:35:42 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643493310 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643495203 Years later, he came to know the water of Cascades and wanted to get to them, but whenever he tried wading or bathing in these rivers, the terror and fear would take possession of him.]]> 2020-06-30 01:38:57 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643495203 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643496537 Years rolled by yet this handicap stayed with him, it ruined all his fishing, canoeing and boating trips.]]> 2020-06-30 01:40:52 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643496537 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643496946 He tried many ways yet failed. One October, he decided to get an instructor and learn swimming. He went to a pool and practiced five days a week, an hour each day.]]> 2020-06-30 01:41:32 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643496946 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643498073 The instructor had put a belt around him. The belt was attached to a rope which went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. Instructor held on one end of the rope.]]> 2020-06-30 01:43:33 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643498073 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643499799 Slowly and steadily, the narrator started overcoming his fear, his instructor taught him to breathe underwater and finally the narrator became a swimmer.]]> 2020-06-30 01:46:27 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643499799 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643500679 The narrator was not satisfied, what if there was no one with him? Thus, he went to the pool alone and tried swimming. Tiny parts of the old terror came back but his confidence drived it away. This went on till July.]]> 2020-06-30 01:47:40 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643500679 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643501930 Still the narrator was not satisfied, he went to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire, dived off a dock and swam two miles across the lake to an island. He admits that the terror did return but only once when he reached the middle of the lake.]]> 2020-06-30 01:49:41 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643501930 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643503612 Yet the narrator had his own doubts, he went up the Tieton to Cornad meadows, and camped by the side of Warm Lake. Next month, he dived into the lake and swam forth and back. He shouted with joy as he overcame his fear for once and all.]]> 2020-06-30 01:52:34 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643503612 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643505681 The experience was very pivotal for him. Only those who have known that terror and conquered it can understand its meaning. He had experienced the sensation of dying as well as the fear it can produce. And this made his strong will to live.]]> 2020-06-30 01:55:22 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643505681 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643506034 He felt relieved to walk the trails and climb the peaks to brush aside the fear]]> 2020-06-30 01:56:00 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643506034 https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643556935 Adwaitha I.S
Keerthana Krishnakumar
Krishnaprabha J
Meera Raju]]> 2020-06-30 03:27:10 UTC https://padlet.com/adwaithais111/35wiwj7h4c9ip3im/wish/643556935