Flamingo Chapter 3 Deep Water

At the age of ten or eleven William O. Douglas decided to learn and swim at the Y. M.C. A. pool because it was only two or three feet deep at the shallow end. He had an aversion to the water but he felt comfortable when he paddled with his new water wings in the water. One day he went to the pool when no one else was there. He was waiting for others to come. Then there came a big bruiser of a boy and yelled; “Hi, skinny! How’d you like to be ducked ?” With that he picked Douglas and tossed him into the deep end. He landed in a sitting position, swallowed water and went at once to the bottom. He feared to be drowned. This misadventure caused a last of trouble to Douglas

William Douglas was thrown into the pool by a muscular boy. He got frightened but did not lose his wits. He was suffocating and grew panicky. The nine-feet deep pool looked like ninety feet deep. He thought to blab to the surface like a cork but he moved slowly In the end he made a plan to come up to the surface by making a big jump when his feet touched the bottom.

He feared water and whenever he went back to the pool, terror seized him. A slightest exertion upset him. He avoided water as far as he could . As and when he tried to enter water, the stark fear would seize him. His legs became paralysed and icy terror would grab his heart.

After his misadventure in the pool, Douglas wanted to get into the waters of the cascades but the old fear overpowered him. His legs would become paralysed and icy terror would grab his heart. He could not enjoy the sports games like canoeing, boating and swimming. He tried to get rid of this fear yet it held him in its firm grip. So he decided to was keen get over his fear of water by engaging an instructor.

The haunting fear of the water followed Douglas in his fishing trips, swimming, boating and canoeing. To get rid of this fear, he finally engaged an instructor who practised him five days a week, an hour each day. He held one end of the rope in his hands and the other end through a pulley overhead of Douglas. It was tied to the belt with the rope. He made Douglas swim back and forth in the pool.

After three months of training, the instructor taught Douglas to put his face under water and breathe out, and to raise his nose and breathe in. He repeated this exercise hundreds of times. Bit by bit he got rid of the terror that gripped him. Then he held Douglas at the side of the pool and made him kick himself with his own legs. After weeks of doing this practice, he could command his own legs of swimming in water.

Thus piece by piece, the instructor built a swimmer and perfected him in every way.

The instructor piece by piece built Douglas a swimmer and told him that he could swim, dive off and crawl stroke. When Douglas tried and swam the length up and down, small traces of the old terror of the pool would return. He was not sure that all the terror had left. So he went to Lake Wentworth, dived at Triggs Island, swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. He swam and had different stroks. Once he was in the middle of the lake and put his face under water he saw nothing but bottomless water, he was overpowered by terror. He had to say, “Well Mr. Terror ! What do you think? What can you can do to me?”

At his first opportunity he hurried west and swam across the Warm Lake and back. He shouted with joy. Now he was sure that he had conquered his fear of water.

. Then there came a big bruiser of a boy. He tossed him up and threw him into the deep end of the pool. Douglas went deep and swallowed water. He was in a sitting position at the bottom. He was frightened but was not out of his wits. On the way down, he had a strategy in his mind. When his feet touched the bottom, he would make a great spring upward. Then he would paddle to the edge of the pool, but he came up slowly. He opened his eyes and saw dirty water.

He was greatly frightened. His legs seemed paralysed. A great force was pulling him down. A stark terror over- powered him. He shrieked in the water but only the water heard him. After feeling the tiles under his feet, he jumped with all his might but it made no difference. His lungs ached and head throbbed. Stark terror took him in its grip. His legs and arms could not move. He again tried for the third time. He searched for air but swallowed water. He felt drowsy and ceased all efforts. He was crossed to oblivion. The curtain of his life fell and he lay unconscious.

After his misadventure in the pool at the Y.M.C.A., Douglas was amidst the fear of water. He realised that his fishing trips, canoeing, swimming and boating were over. He tried his best to overcome it but the haunting fear of the water followed him everywhere. Finally he decided to engage an instructor to learn to swim and to overcome his fear. He went to the pool and practised for five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor put a belt around him and a rope was attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley that ran an overhead cable. Douglas held one end of the rope and went back and forth across the pool. On each trip, some of the terror would seize him up. After three months, the tension began to decrease.

Piece by piece he shed the panic. He taught him to put his face under water and exhale. He also learnt how to raise his nose and inhale. This exercise was repeated hundreds of times.

Now he was able to shed part of the fear that seized him under water. He went to Lake Wentworth Triggs Island and Slamp Act Island. He swam two miles across the lake. Now he was determined and he swam on. He shouted with joy and he had conquered his fear of water.

Douglas had two childhood experiences of terror. One at the California beach when the waves knocked him down and swept over him. He was terror stricken. At the other occasion he was thrown into the deep end of the Y.M.C.A. pool by a big bruiser of a boy. A stark terror overpowered and gripped him. It followed and haunted him wherever he went. He realised that his joys of fishing canoeing; boating and swimming had ruined. Keeping in view its severe consequences, he engaged an instructor who trained him in swimming and Douglas was able to conquer his fear.

This experience had a deeper meaning for Douglas. Because he had experienced both the sensation of dying and the terror that fear of it can produce. He learnt the will to live in great intensity. This experience can only be realised by those who had faced to conquer it. This exactly happened with Douglas. He knew : In death, there is peace., there is terror only in the fear of death.” Thus one can estimate what matters is the will to live.” As Roosevelt said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” So will to live is great and it can take man to touch the highest peaks of life.

Roosevelt has appropriately said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” These words have a deeper meaning for all of us. It implies that we fear from fear. Those who have undergone this experience of fear, they can only appreciate its worth. William O. Douglas has faced it twice in his life. He had a terrible fear of water. He could not go for swimming, boating, canoeing and rafting, etc. He realised that it would ruin his career since fear was following and haunting him wherever he went. Fear is our hard core enemy. We must get rid of it at the earliest like Douglas. I too had a terrible experience in my life.

A small tributary flows near our village. During the summer vacation we used to go there for bathing and swimming. Very often we were made cautious by the villagers not to bathe in it since there is a deeper whole inside the stream. Being children we never bothered. One day we took out our clothes and plunged into it. By chance the water was overflowing the banks and the current was fast. While diving, two among us got stuck into the hole. We cried and cried but we were going deeper and deeper. We thought that it was the end of our life. One of the boy came outside and saw the villagers. He cried and cried. They came and brought us out of the water. But this enabled us to challenge the fears of life and we can undertake adventurous works.

It is correct that hard struggle and honest labour never go unrewarded. They help in overcoming all kind of terror and fear. India’s struggle for freedom is the best example of this type. Here thousands of Indians sacrified their lives for the noble cause. They were tortured terrified, put behind the bars and painful cruelties were inflected on them Ultimately India became free from the clutches of the Britishers. Now we lead a free and democratic life being masters of our own.

In the same way South Africa was facing the problem of Apartheid till 1992 when the black people were segregated and despised by the Whites. Only the 20% population of the Whites governed over them. Nelson Mandela launched a heroic struggle to liberate the blacks. They demonstrated against the policies of the Whites. Mandela alongwith his friends were tortured. Finally, he was able to overcome all the terror and got freedom for the blacks. His story is also a fine example of struggle, sacrifice, perseverance and hard toil to achieve his mission. During the elections, Nelson Mandela became the President of South Africa.

The other story “We’re not Afraid to Die” is an example to conquest over fear and other obstacles. It is their patience, perseverance and struggle that win over all their terrors and fears. They land safely on the island and people give them a warm welcome.

The present lesson is an excerpt from “Of Men and Mountains”–i.e. an autobiographical account of W. O. Douglas. Here he describes how as a young boy he was nearly drowned in the swimming pool. Here he pens his own experiences, fears and terrors of water. The narration is in the first person, i.e the author has involved himself in the narrative. It is his personalised description which has a direct impact over the readers. It stirs our feelings and equips us to challenge the dangers of life. Douglas gives a vivid account of his drowning in the water and the fear pertaining to it he gives a personal touch in the feeling of the drowning fear the paralysed legs and penkining to it hands that ruined his wishes of canoeing, swimming, boating and, etc. He points out his personal experiences of fear, horror and terror and the strategy that helps him over come his terror of water. Thus the writer has very appropriately stirred up our emotional aspect and the same cann’t be done by writing the account in third person. When the narrator points out that the curtain of life fell', it immediately touches our inner feelings.

A Sample Paragraph Douglas has presented a fine account when he looms in between fear, death and terror and in the end he is crowned with a rewarding success because of his grit, courage, hard toil, strong will and grave intensity to win over his terror. It happened when Dougls was thrown deep into nine feet pool of water. He reached the bottom and became panicky. He felt suffocated and swallowed water. He lost his breath and went down and down. He shrieked to see nothing except water— terror seized him in. He was paralysed and his shrieks were frozen. Thus he made three attempts but went on going down and down. A blackness swept over his brain. He was lost in oblivion with death around his body. When he woke up, he was vomitting water on the surface.

Doing well–A Great Struggle

At last I felt released, free to walk the trails and climb the peaks and to brush aside fear. Now the haunting fear had been shed and I can drive not only the motorcycle but the car also on the crowded roads of Delhi without any trace of fear in me.

Every one indulging in a sport or music or dance or painting or riding a motorcyle or a car, knows it very well that doing well in the activity involves a great deal of struggles. It is true that most of us get very nervous to begin with until bit by bit, we overcome our fears and perform well.

When for the first time I rode a motorcyle I felt very thrilled. Moreover, I drove on an empty road in the rural part after sunset. It was after travelling a distance of four kilometers I drove back. At a sharp curve a passenger bus came from opposite side. To my utter horror, I could notice the fallen-tree on my road-side when I just reached it. I had no choice but to drive down the road. I jumped flat behind, leaving the running motorcycle in the grove of trees. I was badly hurt and found the bike in damaged form standing in the trees. I got terror struck and shook and trembled badly. There was no help.

The driving fear followed me whenever I drove in residential areas as well as on busy roads. I could never think of driving beyond the speed of 40 km.ph. My condition worsened when I was stuck in the traffic jams. Terror used to freeze my hands and legs. They could hardly coordinate.

At last, I engaged an instructor to teach me driving. It was one hour daily for one month I was given a signal to drive independently. I drove on busy roads, crowded roads, jammed roads and finally, on roads with deep curves in the hills. It made me to feel free of the haunting driving fear. The residual fear also was won over a long time. I won it, and felt free to drive.

32, Conoor

Tamil Nadu,

November 4, 2009

Dear Payal,

You will be surprised to know that I have learnt swimming. Now I am preparing for representing my school in the inter-schoo] swimming competitions due next spring.

I very well remember the day I was very nervous when I entered the pool for the first time. For days, I had a great fear, a fear of water. Whenever, I had my face under water I was much frightened for long. I often felt some force pulling me down. But I always got encouragement from others swimming beside me.

I had to struggle a lot, practise swimming everyday for three months to get rid of the fear and feel free to swim. Now I know the joys of swimming, which can only be felt, not explained. I hope you are also learning something now-a-days.

Do write.

With Love

Yours truly,

Mohini.

In India, we organise many water sports, some of these are:

• Water-Polo These games are arranged in the Ganges, Beas

• Yachting Tiesta.

• Canoeing Kashmir, Goa and Chandigarh are some of the places for water sports in India.

• Rafting

• Swimming

• Water-ski

Douglas wanted to learn swimming. His mother had advised him against his visit to the Yakima river since it was treacherous in nature. She had kept fresh in his mind the details of each drowing in that river. She considered Y.M.C.A. pool as the safest place because it was two or three feet at the shallow end and nine feet at the deeper end. The slope was also gradual.

Douglas had a keen desire to wade into the water since his childhood. But he had developed an aversion from the water. When he was at the age of three or four, his father took him to the beach in California both were standing together at the surf. There came a wave that knocked him down and swept over him. Consequently, he was burried in the water. His breath was gone and a deep terror overpowered his heart.

When a big bruiser of a boy throw Douglas deep into the water, he went straight into the water. His feet touched the bottom. He was completely frightened but had not lost his wits. He made a strategy to have a big jump so that he could try to come on the surface. He even thought to lie flat on it for some time. Finally, he would paddle to the edge of the pool

One day William Douglas was sitting alone on one side of the Y.M.C.A. pool. He was waiting for the others to come so that he could start swimming. By chance there came a big burly boy of an eighteen years old. He asked “Hi, Skinny! How’d you like to be ducked?” He picked and tossed Douglas and threw him into the deep end of the pool. William speaks about this misadventure.

Once Douglas was alone on the YMCA pool. A bully boy tossed him into the deep end of water. He was frightened beyond measure but did not lose his wits. He took a big jump from the bottom, came to the surface and paddled to the edge of the pool. The drowning incident affected his later life deeply. He found only terror in the fear of death. He experienced both the censation of dying and terror caused by fear of dying. The will to live grew higher in him.

When Douglas was in the deep end of the pool, he was suffocating. Nine feet seemed to him like more than ninety feet. Before he could touch the bottom, his lungs were about to burst. He tried to gather all his power and sprang upward. He came up slowly. He saw water everywhere. He felt paralysed and grew panicky. He cried but all in vain.

Douglas went down to the bottom of nine feet deep water for the first time. Nine feet seemed to him like more than ninety feet. He grew panicky. Before, he could touch the bottom, his lungs were about to burst. He felt paralysed. He was buried in the water. His breath was gone and terror overpowered his heart.

A bully boy tossed the narrator into the deep end of the Y. M. C. A. pool. The water had a yellow glow. He grew panicky on reaching the bottom. He made a great spring upward but saw nothing else but water. He sucked for air but only got water. Stark terror which is beyond control and understanding seized him. Even his screams were frozen. Only his heart and brain said that was still alive.

Douglas had tried thrice but he went down in the water at the Y.M.C.A.. All his efforts ceased. He felt paralysed and legs became limp. A blackness swept over his face. He wiped out his fear and terror. It was quiet, peaceful and nothing to be afraid of. It is nice to be drowsy. He crossed to oblivion. He thought that he must go to sleep. The curtain of life fell and he became unconscious.

After the incident at the Y. M. C. A. Douglas felt that entering in the water had become a source of constant trouble. All of his water sports and enjoyments had gone. His fishing trips, canaling, swimming and boating were over. To get rid of it he engaged an expert instructor to teach him swimming and overcoming his fear of water. He practised five days a week. After three months, Douglas realised that the tension was decreasing. Piece by piece he shed the panic. When he swam two miles across the Lake, he was happy to have conquered his fear.

In hi,s earlier two attempts Douglas could not come out towards the surface of the water. For the third time he sucked for air but got water. He ceased struggling any more. He felt no more panic except peace. It was all quiet. He crossed to oblivion experiencing drowsiness. He felt the tender arms of his mother around him. When he came to senses, he found himself lying and vomiting beside the pool.

After his two experience at the pool, he was deeply troubled. Fear followed him wherever he went. So Douglas realised that the terror had ruined his fishing, boating and swimming career. It even ruined his fishing and surfing trips. It deprived him of all the joys of life.

Douglas tried his every nerve to overcome his terror of water but it had gripped him firmly. In order to overcome it, he decided to engage an instructor to teach him swimming. He went to a pool and practised five days a week, an hour each day. The instructor made him expert piece by piece.

Each time the instructor started by relaxing his hold on the safety rope, making Douglas go under water to decrease the tension. Then it was to exhale putting face under water and to inhale raising nose to shed panic. Finally, he had him kick with his legs to command them.

In order to make himself free from his residual doubts. Douglas went up Tieton to Conard Meadows, up the Conard Creak Trail to Meade Glacier. Then he was happy to camp in the high meadows near warm lake. On the next morning he was happy to swim and return back to the other shore as well. His trips made a loud echo: “I have conquered my fear of water”. In this way Douglas was able to get rid of his residual fears.

In his third attempt, Douglas was in oblivion. He left all efforts and he was dying. He was seized with terror. His limbs were paralysed. But he had already realised the sensation of dying, there was peace in it. In this moment of peace, Douglas felt himself to be in his mother’s arms. All terror left him.

To give him the best guidance, the instructor gave Douglas a practice for five days in a week. It was of one hour duration. In the beginning he put a belt around Douglas and it was attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley that ran on an overhead cable. Douglas was made to go back and forth across the pool. Each time his old fear returned. It went on for

three months. Then he taught him to put his face under water and exhale. He taught him to raise his nose and inhale. Thus, piece by piece the instructor built Douglas a swimmer.

The instructor had trained Dougles piece by piece in every exercise pertaining to swimming but Douglas was not satisfied. He was under the fear that the terror of water would get hold on him again while swimming. So the author was in a mood to have more attempts or excercise for perfection.

The instructor trained Douglas to swim, dive off and crawl stroke but small traces of terror would return to his mind. This went on from April to July. To remove all his doubts, Douglas went to swim in Lake Wentworth, dived at Triggs Island and swam two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. He boldly gave a farewell to terror. Then he hurried West and swam across the Warm lake and back. Now he was sure that he had conquered his fear of water.

The experience of water terror had a deeper meaning for Douglas. In reality the author put a deep meaning for all of us. Only these who had encountered a stark terror and conquered it, only they can appreciate it. It stresses the point that a man must encounter all obstacles or terrors in his life by having a determined mind and the success would crown him in the end.

In this lesson Roosevelt says “All we have to fear is fear itself.” Douglas has experienced both the sensation of dying and terror that fear of it can produce. The strong will, hard determination, courage and toil as well as honest labour win over all our terror and fears. The will to live brushes aside all our fears. In reality all our terrors and fears are psychological and the same can be won over.

From the very beginning, Douglas was much eager to learn swimming. When he was three or four years old, his father took him to the beach in California. He was standing in the surf. A strong wave knocked him down and he was buried in water. His breath was gone. He was much frightened but his father was holding him. Even then, the boy was much terrified by the destructive force of the wave. He developed an aversion to water.

Next time, when he was ten or eleven years old he resolved to learn swimming. He went to the Y.M.C.A. pool at Yakima. He was sitting there alone waiting for others to come. A big muscular boy addressed him ‘Skinny’ and asked him to be ducked. He tossed up Douglas and threw him into the deep end of the pool. He went down to the bottom and got panicky. This experience further strengthened the terror and fear of water in his mind and personality.

Young Douglas was waiting at the Y.M.C.A. pool for other boys to come. There came a big bruiser of a boy and threw Douglas in the deep water. He landed in the water in a sitting position. At first he was frightened but he did not lose his wits. Going towards the bottom, he hatched a plan to come up to the surface by making a big jump. Then he would lie flat on it to paddle to the edge of the pool. He went up slowly and grow panicky. He was suffocating. He shouted but there was no sound. He tried to bring his legs up but a great force was pulling him under water.
His downward journey started. He was paralysed with terror. His legs turned limp. He was gripped with terror but was not still out of wits. He felt the tiles under him. He was crying under water for help but he sucked water. A blackness swept over him. He jumped with all his strength and made a third attempt. He came down under the water. He decided to stop all his efforts. He relaxed and there was no panic. He thought that the life of curtain had fallen. He crossed to oblivion when he got senses he was lying on his stomach beside the pool, vomitting.

When Douglas was thrown into the nine feet deep Y.M.C.A. pool, he landed in a sitting position in the beginning. He swallowed water and went down at once to the bottom. On the way down he was frightened but not completely out of wits. His lungs were ready to brust but made a strategy to spring upwards on hitting the bottom. He came up slowly and saw the dirty water on all his sides. He wanted to cry for help but water entered in his mouth. His legs became paralysed stiff and rigid ? A great force was pulling him under. He started his back journey to the bottom for the second time. He could not bob to the surface like a cork as he had thought. He went down and down endlessly.

The sheer stark terror seized him. He was crying under water. He called his mother to help him but nothing happened. He looked for ropes, water ladders, water wings for help but there was no help. He was tremblilng with fear. He started down a third time. In place of air, he sucked water everytime. All his efforts stopped.

Black darkness covered his brain. There was no panic, no fear and no terror. It was calm and peaceful. It was nice and he felt sleepy as if he had been in his mother’s arms. The curtain of life fell and he lay unconcious.

On two different occasions, Douglas developed a stark terror of water. At the age of three or four he was standing on the beach of California with his father. There the waves swept over him and buried in the water. On the second occasion, he was thrown deep into the Y.M.C.A. pool by a muscular boy. He struggled hard and made three different attempts to get out of water but he went on deeper and deeper. A stark terror overpowered him. The very sight of the pool, river or lake seized him. He was followed by terror wherever he went. He realised that he could not enjoy boating, fishing, swimming or canoeing. He decided to overcome his fear.

He engaged an instructor and practised five days a week, an hour a day. He taught him swimming piece by piece. In the beginning he put a belt round Douglas. A rope was attached to the belt. The rope went through a pulley and the pulley ran on a overhead cable. He held on to the end of the rope. They went back and forth across the pool. A bit of panic seized Douglas. After three months his tension began to slacken. Then the instructor taught him to exhale under water and inhale outside it. This exercise was repeated hundreds of times. He made him a perfect swimmer piece by piece but Douglas had fear in his mind. To have a complete grip over it, he went to lake Wentsworth and dived off a dock at Triggs Island. He swam two miles across the lake. To remove his residual doubts, he dived into the Warm Lake and swam across to the other shore and backs. He shouted with joy that he had conquered his fear of water. Thus the writer bade goodbye to the terror for ever.

At one time he held the writer at the side of the pool and had kicked himself with his own legs. After weeks of practice, he could command his legs for swimming in the water.

The instructor trained Douglas piece by piece and built him a fearless swimmer. He told him that he could swim, dive off and crawl stroke. The instructor was convinced that Douglas was free from terror but the latter feared lest the old terror should return back to him when he would go alone in the water. In order to satisfy himself, the writer tried again. He dived into the pool and swam the length up and down. Small traces of the old terror of the pool would return. But this time he could frown terror as shown by swimming the length of the pool. This went on from April to July but the author was not still satisfied.

Then he went to lake Wentworth in New Hamphshire and dived at Triggs Island. He swam across two miles across the lake to Stamp Act Island. On another occasion, he went and camped by the side of Warm Lake. The next morning he dived into the lake. He bade goodbye to terror. He swam across to the other shore and back. He shouted with joy. Now he conqured his fear of water and he could enjoy his water sports very well.

30 C, Times Square

Washington D.C.

23rd November, 200....

My dear Khare,

Right from my childhood I have developed water terror in my heart. The overpowering force of the waves buried me under water when I was three or four years old. Secondly, at the age of ten or eleven I was almost drowned in the Y.M.C.A. pool at Yakima. After that I was completely in possession of terror in the water. Wherever I went, the haunting fear of water followed me. It ruined my fishing, my joy of canoeing, boating, and swimming. When my all methods, failed to overcome the fear of water, I engaged an instructor to train me to swim. After seven months of continous training. I was declared a perfect swimmer. For ensuring , I swam, dived off and shouted with anger at it when once it returned. In order to drive out any residual doubts of the haunting fear in the West I went upto Tieton to Conrad Meadow, Conrad Creek Trail to Meade Glacier. After swimming in Warm Lake to the other shore and back, I shouted and the Gilbert Peak returned the echo. I had conquered my fear of water. When you find some free time do write about your one such rare experience.

Yours truly

William Douglas

William O. Douglas was born in 1898 at Maine. After graduating he adopted the profession of teaching but he soon got tired of this job and adopted the legal career. He served in the court as a justice for a longer period of life. Since childhood he had a mind for swimming but he got aversion for water when a wave swept over and buried him. On the second occassion at the age of ten or eleven, a big burly boy tossed him up and threw deep in the pool that created stark fear in his mind. He made three attempts but every time he went down deeper and deeper. He became unconscious when he got up he was vomiting beside the pool.

The terror of water followed him wherever he went. To get rid of it, he made a strong determination. He decided to overcome his fear through his ‘will’. He engaged an instructor who perfected Douglas in swimming. He gave him hundreds of exercises and taught him to exhale and inhale in water. The practice went on for three months and Douglas was able to recede his terror. Then after more exercises, the instructor ordered him to dive himself. He swam across and back the lake. He was now completely out of fear. He stated that a fear is nothing but all we have to fear is fear itself. Its reality it is the “will to live” that removes all our fears, terrors, troubled and difficulties in case we struggle hard and make a strong determination to materialize it.

The fear of water had gripped his life since the age of 11 and it followed him everywhere and in everything he did. The fear of water stayed with Douglas for years. It deprived him of the joy of canoeing, boating and swimming. He used every way he knew to overcome the fear but in vain. He was in the grip of fear even as an adult. So finally he decided to overcome this fear by getting an effective training from a professional trainer.

Douglas regretted being deprived of enjoying water activities like canoeing, boating, swimming, fishing, etc. The wish to enjoy them and the craving to regain his lost confidence, while being in water, made him try every possible way to get rid of his fear. He was finally able to overcome this mental handicap by getting himself a swimming instructor and further ensuring that no residual fear was left.