My Destiny: Living Or Dying

My Destiny: Living or Dying Our lives are defined by moments. But sometimes, especially in special cases, small moments can change our entire life and lead us to the good or bad situation. For me, the life-changing event happened when I enjoyed the summer trip with my best friend Tuan – his Vietnamese name – at the most famous beach in my country. There were numerous incidents that I will never forget, and even now, what happened makes me feel creepy when I think back to 2013. That year has always been a special year for me because it made me look at my life from a totally different kind of perspective, and that event taught me a huge lesson. I started the summer holiday as everyone with plenty of emotions: eagerness, and excitement after a long time working and studying. Having a trip to Vung Tau beach was on my list of activities to do first because it is not only the well-known place where people could immerse the endless inspiration with fresh air but also have a valuable moment with family or friends. When we reached the destination, the beach appeared in front of me with the undulating waves, rhythmic as whispering something. There were so many majestic mountains far away from the shore which created a picture with full vitality that seemed like the masterpiece of Picasso.

As usual, we swam very well and near the shore so that no one thought that we would have an accident. But the famous idiom was correct in my situation: Life is not a dream. After performing many types of swimming like the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly stroke, and sidestroke, we rented a speed boat. Its length was about two meters, and it had two seats, but my friend Tuan is a controller. As the sea’s rule said, all of us must use life jackets to ensure that everyone will be guaranteed to survive in any circumstances, but after a few minutes, we got rid of them because the only reason was to enjoy the whole experiment. Maybe the sea was really calming, so I decided to urge Tuan to make him speed up. He did not answer me, but I could feel the speed boat start to pick up speed. The cold breeze rushed through my face; the scenery and everything around me were passing by faster and faster and made me more amused. I did not pay any attention to the speedometer, but suddenly, Tuan stepped on the brakes and made a very hard right turn to avoid the big flag ahead that indicated the dangerous place to enter. Unfortunately, we were smashing into it, and both of us were thrown out of the boat and placed into an insecure spot. Without having any life jackets, the boat had also been seriously damaged; furthermore, the seaside was far away from us, approximately two miles so that the only thing we must do to stay alive was swimming and keep swimming. Normally, Tuan swam faster than I and that day, too. My living or dying depended on destiny; the worst thing happened when I had a cramp leg.

Looking around, I did not see Tuan; I was sure he would have reached the shore earlier and then have called someone to help me. I could not remember anything until I woke up on the sand next to Tuan. He said he had had the premonition of something bad. Straight away, he had reported me missing two a lifeguard, and right away, the rescue teams made their best efforts to find me for more than half an hour, and finally, I was rescued. Every person has a religion, and in my point of view I have been a Buddhist since I was a child. I do not exaggerate to assert Buddha saved me. Speaking objectively, I was impressed by that trip so much because of the scenery and different types of places to enjoy. Afterward, this event taught me three important lessons: First, I appreciate everything in this life in each minute because life is too short. Secondly, I stop doing any risky foolish things that lead to negative situations, and finally, I can withdraw plenty of lessons about life’s experiences to become stronger and mature.