The waves splashed and crashed against me. The wind howled and whipped against me. The rain fell and splashed down upon me. I could feel the fury of the sea, the coldness of the waves, the harshness of the wind, and the cruelness of the rain as the kayak rocked and swayed from side to side in the bottomless sea.
“Plunge. Plunge. Plunge harder. Keep plunging. Do not stop. You are not alone. There are others beside you. Do not be a burden. Keep plunging.”
I repeated those lines over and over, again and again in my mind, like a broken record, as I plunged hard into the deep blue sea, fighting against the wind, the current, the rain, and most of all, fighting against my fatigue and fears. I could feel Lydia’s emotional support provided me with the courage and strength to continue paddling. I could feel the common urging of the friends beside me, in the same boat of struggle, even though we were in different kayaks.
“I must not give up; I must persevere. We can do it, persevere and together, we can all make it to our destination, our common goal.” I repeated these words, over and over again, willing myself to believe strongly that we would all pull through together.
I paddled on, channeling in all my strength into each plunge I took with my oars, deeply into the sea. Suddenly, I felt that something was not right, I could not feel anything, my face, my fingers, my hands, my arms, my legs, my whole body had gone stiff. I froze; I could not even feel the cold and the hunger anymore. I lifted my hand up slowly, pain surged through my entire body as I did so.
Decades seemed to pass as I tried lifting my hand to my face. I felt something touch my face. It was cold, freezing cold, as if a corpse was touching me. I slowly turned my head and looked. It was my fingers but I had no sensation of my arm and hand reaching up to touch my face. All of a sudden, I felt something crushing down and everything became clear. I felt the pain in my chest, I could not breathe.
I felt the helplessness and desperateness for the need to breathe, but I simply could not take in any breaths. I started gasping, trying to take in deep, loud breaths, hoping that if I could hear myself breathing, I could convince myself that I was still alive and breathing, not a lifeless cold corpse. I heard someone call my name, shouting at me to do something, but the voice seemed so far away… I tried to shake my head, feeling my thoughts pull away from that disjointed, far away voice, trying to focus instead on a nearer and warmer voice – Lydia’s voice, which my mind seemed to register.
“…Shi…jie…in…ha…ler...”
Her words seemed to float across my consciousness but they bore no weight. What was she trying to say? What was she trying to do? Moments passed and it finally registered in my mind that I needed my inhaler. My detached consciousness started to reach back into reality as I slowly gained control of my body once again. I started to search for my inhaler. The conscious part of me tried to regulate my breathing, and my breathing became faster and louder as I panicked, frightened because I could not open the bag that my inhaler was in.
Sanity took hold of me and I willed myself to calm down. After a long struggle, I got hold of my inhaler. My fingers fumbled to open the cap and I desperately breathed in the life-saving medicine. I felt the medicine penetrate through my body, slowing down my breathing and opening up my constricted lungs. I was physically spent and everything became a blur around me. I could not quite figure what was happening around me. I could hear my instructors saying something to me but try as I could, I could not open my mouth to answer them. I heard their decision to take me to the medical centre and allow the rest of the girls to continue. I forced my eyes open and in the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Lydia and my friends – for all the trouble they had to endure because for me.
A phrase came to me as I sat on the bed in the medical centre, recalling back on the kayaking experience: Life is like a boat. I just then realized how true this sentence was. In the sea, our journey ahead was not smooth. There were always difficulties we encountered, like the waves and the wind, and the hardest one of all, our fears. Similarly, in our daily lives, we would always face challenges and our fears. In order to succeed, we need to have the courage to persevere and strive hard. Hard times are easier to pass, knowing that there is someone beside, that they will be there to provide help and encouragement as we strive together towards a common goal, and that we are not alone. In the sea, coordination with one another is required for us to move forwards without capsizing the boat. In reality, there are many situations whereby we are required to work together towards a common goal. We may often find that when one in a group does not cooperate, tremendous effort has to be put in to get the job done and sometimes the result may turn out to be a disappointing one. It is the same idea as:
One water droplet does not contribute much, but by joining them together and forming one big river, it becomes a totally different story.
这是英文版的第四天，是在描述我在划船时的情形，也是我英文作业之一。（我可是拿到了不错的分数哦~~）
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