The Man Who Walked On Water
Copyright 2006 Donovan Baldwin
Nope! Not who you think it is. However, I was there, and I saw
it happen. So did several other people. At the time, I just put
it down as a highly unusual occurance, and over the years I
forgot about it. A few of years ago, it came back to mind, and I
realized that it had influenced me in a small but significant
way over the last 25 years or so. One place it had a very
significant impact was in my building my internet business. I
just couldn't accept the fact that being successful was
impossible, in spite of several failures, reversals, and
betrayals. In fact, I had reached a point, aided in part by
having witnessed the event I am about to recount, where I
thought almost anything was possible if you just didn't know it
COULDN'T be done, or if you had enough reason, motivation, or
faith to assume it COULD be done.
There have been several events in my life which have helped
convince me of this, and I have mentioned another in my article,
"Unloading Grocery Trucks Taught Me About Success". I don't
believe any one event or experience has had the ultimate impact,
but these and other situations have given me the opportunity to
reach this conclusion, and to experience the fruits of success
partly because of this attitude. Many reading this article may
not have had such events in their lives or may not have taken
the lessons I have from what has occured, so I share my
experiences here. Anyway, it's a good story!
It was 1979 or 1980, and I was the Assistant Operations
Noncommissioned Officer (NCO) at the Fort Stewart, Georgia, NCO
Academy. Although my job normally entailed office and
administrative duties, I also sometimes participated directly or
indirectly in classes and/or training exercises.
In this particular instance, I, and several other members of the
training cadre, had been tasked to demonstrate to a class how to
right a rubber assault boat if it had been tipped over, and how
to act in the event the boat was tipped over. This took place on
a small creek in the Georgia woods. We had spent a couple of
days practicing just to make sure we could do it well. It wasn't
that difficult a procedure, but it required coordination of
effort on the part of all involved because of the unwieldy
nature of the boat.
After we did our demonstration, we filled one of the boats with
students, all of whom were lower ranking soldiers who were
taking the course in order to prepare them for future leadership
positions in the Army. All had been picked by their commanders
and supervisors to attend because of past performance and future
potential, and all were there because they wanted to advance in
the Army. Two boats full of staff and instructors stood by to
assist and to help anyone who might have difficulty. We had put
life vests on everyone, but we knew that there was always the
possibility for panic...and that's exactly what happened with
one individual.
The boat he was in was tipped, and he fought, kicked, and
crawled over everyone to climb onto the bottom of the boat,
disregarding all instructions and orders. He was told that the
boat was now going to be righted and he would just end up back
in the water again. He was in no real danger, but panic struck
again, and that's when it happened.
The boat was about ten feet from shore, and he took one very
long step off the boat, stepped onto the water, and took another
step onto dry land! We all saw it and were totally stunned. We
investigated the water around the boat, and there was nothing he
could have stepped on other than the surface of the water.
Everyone there had just seen a man walk on water! It was
theoretically impossible, but it happened...before the eyes of
nearly fifty people.
Of course, we all had theories, and some simply decided that the
boat must have been closer to the shore than they could tell
from where they were. Some were not actually in a position to
tell exactly what happened, but I, and several others saw one
foot come down on the surface of the water, the other foot come
forward and reach land. From our position, we could verify that
the boat was about ten feet from shore and that one step was
taken ON THE WATER!
Later, of course, I figured out that the man had actually simply
leaped, stepping as he moved forward, and the forward whip of
the trailing leg as it came forward towards land probably helped
propel him as well. Whatever the actuality, it was still quite a
leap, one which he probably would not have been able to make
from a rubbery, unstable surface, from a standing start, over
such a distance, if his motivation (or desire to succeed) had
not been sufficient to carry him forward.
That was what stayed with me over the years. He did not know, or
believe, that he could fail, and he had an extremely strong
desire or motivation to succeed. Over the last few years, not
only have I tried to keep those two points at the forefront of
my endeavors, but I have often observed them to be deciding
factors in the success of others. I have been in network
marketing since the early 90's, and in internet marketing since
the late 90's, and the successful people I have met or learned
about, very frequently had the desire to succeed, the motivation
to keep trying, even in adversity, and refused to admit, at
least out loud, that they would fail.