Editor,
I was at the beach yesterday and I watched a surfer working the waves outside the surfing area at St. Ann’s narrowly miss a little kid playing in the surf.
The lifeguard swam out to the surfer and I presume asked him to be careful and stay in the surf area.
I saw the surfer say something in response, and I couldn’t’ hear it, but from body language I could tell it wasn’t nice. Then the surfer flipped off the lifeguard and paddled away.
My son is a guard, and I asked him if he gets blowback like that and he said, “All the time.” He said the worst are more often locals because they resent being told what to do on “their” beach. He said he often gets abuse, and more often ignored and it’s embarrassing and disheartening.
Dudes! Really? It’s a public beach! There are reasons for the rules. My son had 10 saves the other day. The lifeguards are only doing their jobs, and their jobs are important, and their jobs matter. The ones manning the towers are usually just kids trying to earn some money during the summer. They don’t deserve that kind of abuse. Please, be respectful of the lifeguards.
Please teach your kids to be respectful of the rules, and the lifeguards. And, next time you’re at the beach and you see a lifeguard do something good, tell them how much you appreciate them. Trust me. They need that kind of encouragement sometimes.
Lynn Whitlock, Laguna Beach
Great point, Lynn. I’ve been a waterman all my life and the less evolved folks who flash the entitled, selfish “local” attitude are usually from the lower end of the pecking and social order, and don’t feel very much in control in their lives. So they need to assert what little they feel they have instead of being cool and open minded. They complain about tourists or outsiders taking on “their” waves or sand, but we’re all tourists. These guys rarely grow up to be leaders. Just like my dog, who pees on each tree, they need to mark their turf and crouch there like trolls daring anyone to cross their bridge. Relax, life’s too short!
Well said Lynn and Kirk! From what I have witnessed recently, the lack of basic manners and respect for others shown by our youth, especially towards our visitors is truly dissapppintkng. They are reflecttion of our community.. hopefully the openly disrespectful ones are not the majority of our youth. My own experience: I walked down 1,000 steps brach behind 3 local young surfer teens and heard nothing but vulgar language as well as learned details about their sex habits. They shared their activities quite loudly with not a care in the world that they were among the public (families headed to the beach) or that their conversation was inappropriate there. Parents: you wouldn’t want them to be talking about your daughter and blasting it out to the world, would you? We should all thank the lifeguards and anyone serving in public safety in our town tasked with overseeing and reigning in others. Let’s hope your letter gets some attention and results!