On Mon, 19 Mar 2001 21:30:52 +0800, Chris B. McKinney
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Reef Fish
>> Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 12:01 PM
>>
>> No DM or guide can be held responsible for a
>> COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT
>> (but nevertheless certified) diver.  The
>> dive-guide-instructor did
>> not do many things as well as he should have, in hindsight, but
>> I don't see anything blatently guilty on the part of
>> the instructor
>> that "he will have to carry the blame the rest of his life".
>
>Unfortunately for the divemaster, we humans do tend to hold
>ourselves responsible for things in cases like these regardless
>of whether or not we "should".

On the contrary!  Perhaps that's the way people do in the
Phillipines.  In the USA, people (many, most) tend to blame
everyone ELSE but themselves!

And that was MY POINT.  That people should hold THEMSELVES
responsible and not BLAME others.


>Once I helped resuscitate a young boy who had drowned.

Weren't you the one who possessed the 1983 Webster's unabridged
dictionary?  What did it say about "drown"?  My dictionary says,
"To DIE underwater or other liquid ..."

>The boy, who had apparently been under for almost 10 minutes, lived.

Did he or didn't he DIE?   In any event, this example has NONE of
the essential ingredients in Kuty's example under discussion.  The
boy wasn't certified for anything.  He was probably not old enough to
comprehend or practice "self reliance" of "self responsibility",
and what happened in the pool is just an ordinary accident that
wasn't HIS fault, nor anyone else's for that matter.

>How should I have felt?

Only YOU can make the call for YOURSELF.

>Even now, I cannot think of this incident (four years ago)
>without feeling very stressed.

Your narrative seems to suggest (to ME) that you ladies and gents
should find a shrink and have a GROUP THERAPY session <:-))> on your
guilt-complex.


>So I, too, feel sorry for the instructor, the divemaster, and the
>other two divers involved.  They probably "know" that if they had
>only "____" they could have saved the diver's life.
>
>Chris

20-20 hindsight and "Monday-night quarterback" (USA term) are NOT
going to teach a victim (especially the DROWNED one) any lesson
about self-reliance and self-responsibility he SHOULD have learned.

My post-hoc comment/analysis of the tragedy is in the hopes of
convincing those readers who are ALIVE to pay more attention to
the OWN responsibility and RELY less, much less, on rules that
may or may not be applicable to them, and especially NOT to rely
on another DIVER for their own safety.

-- Bob.