A family once had a pool party at their home. Friends from all over filled their back yard, laughing and talking as they mingled around the grill.

While no one was looking, a two year old boy toddled over to the pool and fell in. Soon a lady pointed the child out to the group.

“That kid can’t swim.” She said.

“Then help him?” a guests replied.

“Oh no,” the lady responded. “I am just the eyes of this party. I don’t have the gift for saving people.” She then turned back to eating her food while the child gasped for breath.

One guest thought about saving the boy but then decided he might offend someone by implying that children shouldn’t swim.

Another guest felt sorry for the boy, so he ate his food at the edge of the pool. He hoped to make the dry ground look so good that the child would ask to leave the water.

The man behind the grill was so busy serving the guests that he never even noticed the drowning child.

“I will call my father about this.” A man hesitant to get wet said. “He lives just in the next town and loves children. I am sure he would love to come and do this for us.”

Finally, a teenage girl saw the baby, now floating face down in the water. She jumped in, grabbed the boy, and tossed him out of the pool. She listened for any breathing. Hearing none she then started roughly pressing on the baby’s stomach. Green water and bile flowed from the boy’s mouth.

As the girl tried to administer CPR the guests gathered around and started criticizing her feeble efforts. “You are being much too rough with that poor child” one man said “you really should be more gentle.”

“You’re not pushing hard enough” an elderly man commented, “and you’re pushing in the wrong place.”

Finally, in desperation the young girl cried out. “Will one of you just call 911!” The guests, offended at her brashness, at first did nothing. But finally, one of the women sighed and walked inside to find a phone. Soon, the air filled with the colorful lights from rescue vehicles as paramedics quickly whisked the baby away.

As the sirens faded into the distance the guests turned on the teenager. “Who are you to order us to call 911?” Said one. “Did you see how you rudely splashed water all over those guests when you jumped in? You are going to scare visitors away from this party.”

These comments hurt deeply. She didn’t intend to be rude or scare anyone. All she wanted to do was save the baby’s life. But, the guests continued.

“You should be ashamed of yourself for how insensitive you were to that child.” one man remarked. “You just grabbed him and tossed him out of the water. You should be more loving.”

“He didn’t even ask to get saved” said another “Who are you to jump in and force your dry ground on someone else? You should never shove your own air down someone’s throat.”

Finally, the girl could take it no more and ran from the party weeping bitterly. The guests never did find out if the baby survived or not. But, they reassured each other that they really did… care.