The Swimmers Moment Essay, Research Paper

A Whirlpool Of Knowledge

Each day all of us must take risks, but the risks we take are apart of our everyday life. We may not even realize that what we are doing is a risk, we just do it. Throughout life we all must make the decision to take risks. Those of us who take the risks and survive we gain the knowledge that those that haven’t taken the risks do not have. The knowledge we gain all come from experiences we have, whether or not we succeed or fail.

In the poem “The Swimmers Moment” the author, Margaret Avision, is trying to get us, the reader, to experience the feeling of taking a risk or not taking one. Many people will not say, “This is the whirlpool” when the time comes to face the risks. Many of us will simply turn away, and we will never gain the knowledge that others will have. Those who do not take the risks will only be envious of those who did take it. With success or failure the narrowness that we had before is no longer there. If ever the whirlpool consumes us, we in turn consume the knowledge. So in actual fact you have beaten the ‘whirlpool,’ even if it has beaten us.

All of us at some point in our lives must make the decision to leave home. For me personally it is going to be one of the biggest risks ever in my life. Leaving home is going to be one of the most difficult choices I am going to make. I could lose all the security that I have grown to know. Also I will be faced with making decision on my own. In the end the choices I make may not be the best, but I will have gained the knowledge that otherwise I would not have. I may be able to say I’ve taken the right path, or I may move back home. Either way I will have grown as a person and experienced my own ‘whirlpool.’

Everywhere we look, and everywhere we go we see people taking risks. Rose from the movie Titanic takes the risk of leaving her fianc e. Rose gave up the life of luxury to be with Jack. She also risked her life to be with the man she loved. At many points in the movie she could have gone back to her fianc e, but she did not. In the end she lost Jack, but Rose decided to keep her promise to him and she never let go. She lived the simple life that she would have lived with Jack, even though at any point she could have given up the jewel to live a luxurious life. The risk that Rose took changed her life forever. For some, her decisions may not have been the best, but for her it was probably the risk that gave her a lifetime of knowledge.

In life, whatever we do is a risk. Whether it is going to the store, getting married or changing jobs, no matter what it is the results could be unsuccessful or even tragic. What we gain by taking risks can not be taught to us in a book or in a lecture. As long as we look at our choices as an experience, we will have the knowledge that some people would never dare to go out and get. The calm beauty at the other side gives us the strength and the knowledge that we should all be able to experience. So in the end whether we are successful or not, we have reached the “silver reaches of the estuary.”