Many of you will remember a couple of years ago when I helped organize a celebration for Ernie Andrus, the nonagenarian who completed his cross-country run on St. Simons. As he ran the final miles, he was surrounded by a cheering crowd, and the jubilation on the beach was an amazing spectacle. Ernie represented something that most of us would call heroic, from his service in WWII to his perseverance along his journey. It is an event I will always remember, I’m quite sure.
This weekend our beach saw different kind of heroes; heroes who ended a journey, but not with fanfare and celebration. Instead it is a story of heroic tragedy. On Mother’s Day, many of us learned, within hours, that a woman had drowned off Massengale Beach and that a man was missing after trying to help rescue stranded swimmers. In the days since, as the story has unfolded, we now know that both Gregory Grant and Aleisha Rankin died while successfully helping children, a toddler, in particular, make it safely to shore after getting caught in a strong tide. Rankin died at the hospital, despite the
valiant efforts of a pair of nurses who happened to be on the beach. Grant’s body remained in the water overnight until it was finally discovered on Monday morning after the search resumed.
Anyone who lives here for any amount of time knows how dangerous our shores can be. The wide tidal swings we see as a result of our coastal geography can catch people unawares, and it is not nearly as difficult to get in trouble as we might think. We tend to think our shallow waters are safe, and while they are, generally speaking, they also demand respect. After so many stories like this week’s, which included two swimmers who needed rescuing the next day on the very same beach, we have no choice but to respect the water.
It seems that both Rankin and Grant knew our beaches well. Rankin, from Jesup, was a regular St. Simons beachgoer, and
Grant, who was from Brunswick, certainly knew about our beaches. Both of them knew, on some level, just how dangerous it was to go after a child in distress, caught in the tide, and they did it anyway. In Aleisha Rankin we have a shining example of a motherly love, in its protective fierceness, which no doubt led her to react, seemingly without thought for self-preservation, on the very day we set aside to recognize and commemorate motherly love. Gregory Grant also serves for us as a shining example of what it means to put our own lives behind others.
In our Easter lectionary, we heard Jesus say, teach about love after proclaiming that he is the vine and we are the branches. He said to his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for ones friends.” We have no other option but to see love in the actions of both Ranking and Grant, and also in the others who helped with the rescues and the search that followed. For me, it is a reminder about the true nature of humanity. It is a sign of hope that we are not truly evil on the inside, broken beyond repair, but good and loving when the chips are down.
It would have been easy to stand on the shore and wring hands and worry about someone in the water, hoping that someone will do something. I fear that I might fall into that category if ever faced with such a situation. I like to think I’d charge into the surf, yet part of me hopes never to be tested. That simply makes me all the more grateful for the story of those who risked all to save a complete stranger.
When the world, with all its bad news gets us down, we might benefit from taking advice from Mr. Rogers, passed on from his mother, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” She was right. And that’s good news for a broken world. With all the hate and all the evil that assaults us, love breaks through it all, again and again. All that repetitiveness in the lectionary of late has pointed us to love, over and over. Love God, love our neighbors. It’s not hard. But it’s not easy either. May God bless Aleisha and Gregory and watch over their families and friends. They have ended a journey on our shores, and they now wait on a distant shore, having begun a new journey. They have showed us all a glimpse of God’s kingdom. Even in the midst of tragedy and death, we can make our Easter song, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Tom+
Postscript: Both families have created GoFundMe pages to help with funeral arrangements. If you Google their names, you can find them. I will be making a gift to both from my discretionary fund.
Dearest Lord, throughout the ages, even to today, you have raised up for us Heroes, as examples of what is best in our humanity. Bless all those whose sacrifice, love and courage have given so much to this world. Protect those Heroes in harm’s way. Strengthen those whose heroic contribution perseveres day in and day out. Heal those whose heroism has cost them in mind and body. Give your eternal peace to those who have gone from this life. Grant by your grace, that we may each find ever deeper heroic virtues in ourselves so that we may, following the example of the Hero of Heroes, your Son Jesus Christ, serve others as he served us - every day, in every way. Amen.
From Royal Air Force Chaplains Association