Written Jul 4, 2012

When my family moved south from Maine to a suburb south of Boston in 1960, my best friend and I vowed never to go swimming unless we were together. Chaney’s parents had a place on Lake Sebago. That summer was warm in New England. One day in August my mother received a phone call from Chaney?s mother. I was told to sit in our station wagon. After a few minutes my mother exited from our split-level house and said, ?Chaney drowned this morning.?

I sat in the car for a long time, staring at the silhouette of Great Blue Hill.

Chaney was gone.

My eight-year old friend had broken our vow, but so had I at Nantasket Beach. One of us had paid the price. Chaney not me, so drownings have always held a special sorrow for me.

Three times I’ve jumped into the ocean to save people; Horseneck Beach for a drunk, Matzatlan for a small Mexican boy, and Pulau Wey in Sumatra for a young Muslim girl. Each rescue was effortless since they were in trouble in less than four feet of water and I walked them to shore and the gratitude of their families. The owe their lives to my Boy Scout swimming merit badge, but not everyone in the world knows how to swim and especially not in Thailand, where there are no lifeguards at the beaches.

Down the coast from Pattaya is Had Laem Mae Phim.

In calm weather this soft sandy beach offers safe waters for non-swimmers. School bus tours from the Isaan Plateau arrive at the beach to offer students their first encounter with the sea. The teachers instruct their classes to be careful, then retreat under the palms for an afternoon of eating and drinking. Most trips end with happy faces, but Laem Mae Phim isn’t called ‘the mother that cries’ for nothing.

If the wind is up, the calm waters are churned to chest-high waves and deadly undertows suck at the innocent.

Such an incident occurred the other day as reported by pattayaone.com

‘Four friends drowned off the coast of Sattahip on Friday morning in a tragic case which began with the attempted suicide of a 19 year old man who was jealous of his girlfriends Facebook activities, especially those which involved other men. Ironically he survived but four of his friends who jumped into the water to save him, drowned. Khun Jalaepat, who was heavily intoxicated, was in a state of complete shock but did explain how he jumped into the water with the intention of drowning. Two other friends, who were able to rescue Khun Jalaepat, confirmed the story and watched as rescue workers found the four bodies and took them to shore. The four dead friends were aged between 17 and 19 and were found throughout the morning as an earlier rescue was not possible due to poor weather conditions. Police are investigating but have initially recorded the deaths as accidental.’

Death by Facebook.

It’s a deadly addiction.

We didn’t have Facebook in 1960.

At Chaney’s funeral the priest said my friend was in heaven. I looked into the sky and saw only sky. If there was no heaven, then there was no hell.

Wherever Chaney was, I would meet him there.