I don't know what it is but almost everything the NY Post ever writes about us here in Rockaway is usually negetive, from Rants about how there's nothing here and how barren it is to misquoting local businesses but the article posted about the Lifeguard having headphones on while on duty wasn't really a fair shake. Meanwhile they continually ignore the much larger issues such as crimes going unattended to, prostitution & drug dealing & crimes of all kinds happening across the street from a Precinct yet it never gets fixed while citizens get ticketed for swimming with out their wallets to show proper ID when asked or the ridiculas backwards way the Parks Department deals with picking up the trash & conservation issues but hey, that might be too much work for the Post? Yes, the lifeguards usually don't wear iPod headphones and I am not condoning it at all, but the day that picture was taken, it was a very rainy day with storms & calm seas. Not a swimmer in sight for miles. pretty much an empty beach & this lifeguard knew that. Not to mention, those lifeguards are mostly local people, sitting in the blistering sun all day watching over swimmers under the control of the Parks department. (which isn't exactly the best manager of our city's public nature parks and have many backwards rules & regulations seen as ridiculous to many professional life guarding associations and beach organizations from Long Island to California.) Even if you ask a life guard about the bureaucracy of it all, they can list a thousand things wrong with how its handled here in the city & many local opinions believe its ass backwards from the way a beach should be controlled & caters to an elderly community who has a larger say in the town government because they don't understand the changes happening in the Rockaways with all the development & new traffic.
None the less, these Hero's save so many people on a daily basis, they should all be handed medals each week. 2 days ago a lifeguard saved 2 kids stuck in a rip-tide right in front of me only to be scolded by 1 of the boys, saying they were totally fine & weren't drowning. Their ignorance of the danger these two 6 or 7 year olds were in was apparent and also equally as ignorant were the parents sitting on the beach clueless that their kids were being sucked out to sea. No one wrote about the save, no one talked about it & no one patted this young lady on the back or said, "Good lookin out." She did her job & did it well & there 2 less grieving parents in the world today. Who knows why the NY post has to always bash Rockaway & look for reasons but they do it regularly. Im just sick of the media trying to grow drama for the sake of sales because theyre not smart enough as an organization to write intelligent news articles that can sustain them but the next time one of the Posts staff is at any beach & has themselves, family or friends in need of assistance, maybe they might think twice about how ridiculous that embarrassing article was when they get a 2nd chance at life.
Props to the Life Guards of NYC & Rockaway beach & thank you all for everything you do.
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