Eric Goering pd.7 11/20/95: ‘THE HERO’

I once believed that I would never be a hero. I thought about it so much that I couldn’t keep it inside myself any longer. “I’ll never be the best I can be !’’ I exclaimed over dinner to my parents. “ Look at me! I look like an average, plain looking farm boy !’’

My father, who is a proud farmer and wants his three sons to be farmers, was inflamed with rage. “ You think about what you’re yelling about boy ! Go to your room !!’’

The next morning, I took my bike and fishing rod to the Cedar Grove River to fish and think about my blow-up the night before. When I reached my spot to fish, I sat down and took a moment to listen to many sounds, like the sound of the cool river water and a sound I had never heard before. It sounded like a cry for help. I put my pole down to see what was the problem.

As the shrill cry grew louder, I ran at a faster pace. I was determined to find out what the problem was. It seemed to me that the person who was yelling was calling my name. It wasn’t just anyone, it was someone in need. “They need a hero’’ I thought to myself, and kept on running. I knew then that no matter the consequence, I could save the day.

Now I could hear the voice clearly. “Help! My son is drowning!” I saw a small woman, standing at the bottom of the hill. I made no hesitation, and dove into the chilly water.

I was not a very good swimmer, but I had confidence in myself. I dogpaddled my way to the desperate drowning little boy who was now turning blue from the water. He was so cold that when I touched the kid, I couldn’t feel anything at all. When I reached the drowning boy, he was gasping for air, suffocating in the great blue mass of chilly water. I forced his arms over my shoulders, and began our journey to the shore.

Just then, an enormous current swept over us. Now, I was drowning too. I grabbed ahold of a small log and tried to kick the way back, but it was too late. I felt I was being sucked in by the force of a magnet. I had to survive, with a little boy I didn’t know, but who I had to save. Someone had to save me too. “ Help!!!” I screamed. It was no use. My head was in one large knot. “ How did this happen?” are the words I remember saying over and over to myself. Then everything around me became black and all was quiet and peaceful.

The next moment, I was looked into my parents’ eyes. I was cold and tired. Suddenly, I heard “ He’s awake!” and loud cheers . Then I realized it. I had discovered my dream. I had become a hero.

*Diary*

2/1/00

Thought I would write a little bit now I have gotten this computer. Today I woke up at 4:30 and went to swimming practice. Coach Ryan acted like he got out of the wrong side of the bed as we managed to piss him off numerous times throughout practice. Pat had the day off, but claims that “she was up anyway.” School was good as I did not encounter any trouble. After school the swim team had pictures taken. I can’t wait for everyone to see them once the yearbook arrives. It looks like we are not wearing any clothes and we are protecting our privates with a kickboard. Pat and Ryan say that these may be the best pictures of the LHS boys team ever taken. I hope they are right. LHS basketball team lost to Leavenworth by twenty points. They suck. Got my New Orleans pictures back and they look ok. It was pretty neat to have the opportunity to go on such a big trip with the whole high school band. It will be something I will never forget. This will be all for tonight.

2/2/00

The Puxatony groundhog saw his shadow. Damn. Drylands were stupid and boring today. It’s always way too hot in the weight area. Pat says the wrestlers like it that way. School was long and boring but not as bad as drylands. Drylands stink so badly because we have to get up at 6:00 in the morning and we don’t work very hard to improve on our physical fitness. The swimming workouts are beginning to be the same way. I will be glad when swimming is over. Today at afternoon practice we were working on relay starts but some of the guys on the relays were not paying attention and were messing around at the other end of the pool. When I yelled to them to come, Pat jumped from the bleachers where she was sitting and started screaming her head off at the boys. Needless to say it was a funny sight. Soon I will make up a top ten list of Pat’s most outrageous moments and quotes. She is such a bitch. League is coming up this weekend and it says I am ranked seventh in the 200 free. I want to be in the finals in that event so I guess I will give it all I have to make it. It should be an exciting race. If I would have swum the 100 fly I would have been ranked second! Oh well. I like to earn my awards rather than have them given to me. Maybe this is why I feel so confident.

*

2/3/00

Well, well, well. Third day of this. Today I had to wake up at 4:30 to take Joe to swimming practice. But then I got to go home and sleep until 6:45. School was good. I filled out a goal setting futuristic thing in the back of my planner with our friend Pigf***er in mind. My friends got a kick out of my writing. Practice was easy because we are preparing for the League meet at Olathe North. I will kick butt because even though I am tired as shit, I still feel great mentally. I am expecting great things to come out of myself and of the team. I better get some sleep. Also, I ate dinner with the team at Joey Van Saun’s house and had a drum lesson tonight. KU lost to Iowa 77-69. They better watch out because they could be worse than the Lawrence Lions basketball team pretty soon if they don’t get their act together. That is all.

2/6/00

League went well as I placed fourth in the 500 and sixth in the 200. We now have close to five individual state qualifiers. John Armstrong, John Legler, Tom Grubbs, Dan Sheely, and myself have all qualified for state while Elliot Luxmann missed the cut in the 100 back by 1 hundredth of a second. My freshman year we had seven individual qualifiers out of thirty two swimmers. My sophomore and junior years we only had two qualifiers out of about 15 swimmers total. This year with only eight swimmers on the team we have four qualifiers. Another interesting thing about our team is that everyone swam an individual event in the finals of the league meet. We may be a small group but we sure are powerful with what we have.

When I got back from the meet, I went with Jason and Carlo to the Lawrence vs. Free State basketball game. Free State was up by more than twenty points most of the game, but in the fourth quarter, Lawrence closed the margin to about eleven. However, Free State was still able to hold off the Lions. After the game, we went to El Matador and Carlo and I jammed on the drums and piano a while. That was a lot of fun to be able to do that. Jason said that he wanted to bring his trumpet and join us next time. That would sound really cool. Well this is all he wrote.

*

2/7/00

Today I felt sick but I went to school anyway. I had a physics test and I hope I did ok on it. I had my last distance workout ever today. The Lawrence High Girls won over Olathe North with a three pointer at the end of the game. Not much else went on today. Hope tomorrow will be better.

2/24/00

It’s been awhile since I have written in here, but I guess I just forgot about this while training for state. Well, my high school swimming career is now officially over. At state I placed fourth in the 200 and 500 freestyle and got first team all state. I’m really glad to be able to finish this way. I lost to Joey Van Saun by 3 tenths of a second in the 200 and I should have beaten him, but at least I got all state. I have one more meet coming up next week in St Louis and that will be my final swimming meet ever. It’s really weird to say that and I know I’ll miss swimming a lot, but I know that there is more to life than this sport and I’ll be looking forward to attending KU next year. I think it’s the right decision for me personally. Well, I think this diary thing is kind of stupid now so I think I’m going to stop writing this and save it until I happen to find it again. Well, adios.

*Speech*

When I first met Pat at my first high school swim practice in 1996, I knew that she wouldn’t be the average high school swim coach that I had anticipated. After noticing different styles of coaching in my years of swimming, I have learned that Pat wants her swimmers to represent themselves with class. Teaching class is a difficult task for any coach, but Pat makes it a priority to have a team of good boys instead of bad ones.

After Lawrence High won the boys swimming championship in 1997, I thought that Pat would be more laid back knowing that our teams didn’t have enough strength to contend for another state championship. However, she continued to enter every year with confidence that her swimmers would make a successful group.

When a coach has to instruct two boys swimming teams at once, it’s easy to favor one team over the other team. Pat is now on her third year of coaching four teams per year. I have always enjoyed Pat’s style of coaching two teams at once because she coaches both teams as if it were one team. If every team was limited to eight swimmers this year like Lawrence High and Free State was, I am positive that the Lawrence schools would have placed higher than ninth and thirteenth in the state.

I learned two important lessons from swimming with Lawrence High School. Before I started swimming in high school, I didn’t really care about the accomplishments from my teammates and competitors. Today I have become much more supportive of my teammates successes and have almost made it a habit to congratulate a competitor whether or not I improved in the race.

I remember as a Freshman that after a race, I would be extremely hard on myself if I hadn’t done as well as I had hoped. During my Sophomore year, Pat sensed my frustrations and we both agreed that I needed to relax before my races, and not think too much about the outcome after the races. If it were not for learning to become a better team player and properly preparing for my competitions, I think I would be a different swimmer.

I want to thank Pat, Ryan, my teammates, the sport of swimming, and my parents for shaping my life to where it is today.

*Epilogue* (Present day)

Thank you for taking the time to read down this far! I guess I’ll take some time to add what’s going on right now. Band is going well. I went to the royals game last night with a bunch of people from band and that was pretty fun. The highlight of the game occurred when this eight year old kid literally commanded fans to do the wave. He ran from one end of the stadium to the other to get his point across. It was hilarious, especially when most people either ignored him or either yelled at him to shut up. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

I smoked some weed with my brother Joe this afternoon. Let’s just call it a ‘hermano y hermano experiencia.’ Wow, I still know some spanish.

The other night I got completely wasted at Madeleine’s roommate’s 20th birthday party. It was out at Clinton Lake and everyone including Libby and her boyfriend eventually left, except for Madeleine and me. That was pretty fun, as much as I could remember of it. I’m serious, I had a hard time remembering exactly what I did. I think I offended Madeleine a couple of times...a big no no. I’m sorry! ;)

Well today I didn’t do much except study and that bit I talked about above. I even forgot to call Madeleine when I said I would. I was really out of it today. However, I feel a lot better now after reading about my past. It’s always good to go back in time once in awhile. I just can’t stay there too long.