Swimming in Lakes

There are many things to take into consideration before running full-speed into a lake of shining waters. First, the temperature of the water is key to a pleasurable swim. There’s nothing as thrilling as feeling your skin peel away along with your breath as you fly into the icy, glistening pools below.

Second, just where does the ground disappear to once you've comitted yourself to it's goopy, tangled, or rocky surface? What wonderful surprises must live below the mud, just inches from the only two feet and ten toes ever received in this life? I mean, surely I’ve heard somewhere of inland sharks loving the low life of underground living in lakes and ponds, and burried snakes and poisoness toads. Really, I know these things.

Thirdly, just how many birds and geese and people like to use these waters as their hidden sewage system? The only reason why I even know about this part is because I have four younger brothers whom I know have let it loose in a lake or two or three. Many times have I experienced the sudden balmy tingling around my legs, a sudden warm current, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. One must keep their core body temperature regulated during times like these.

Fourthly, these waters can't be empty and hallow, it's just not that simple. Something, and possibly many somethings must inhabit the quiet murkiness underneath it's sparkling surface. I’ve seen them and their dark, darting forms out of the corner of my eye while innocently stroking along.

And fithly, one must know the etiquitte of keeping ones own bulk on top of the water, rather than below. This is the tricky one. It’s a difficult thing to keep oneself from swallowing so much pond water that you end up weighing at least twice as much as you did before entering the water.

After all has been weighed and considered, only then can one dare to wade themselves into a lake brimming with uncertainties. But, you ask, how could one know any of the answers to any of the considerations above unless tested first by the one doing the considering?

The answer? Well, I pause, the answer is just that. How can one possibly know unless one first tries? And why would one be so afraid to try? Pain and fear have kept far too many a' soul from accomplishing couragious feats as fighting for black freedom and the right to vote, as adopting a child with AIDS, as bearing a child as a single mother, to ones as simple as telling someone close to your heart, “I love you,” or deciding whether or not to jump into a nebulous lake.