One morning in the spring of 1964, my classmates and I went on a field trip to a destination in St. Andrew, Jamaica. I believe it was called Black River. It was a beautiful morning, and the sun was in its usual form. Although it was rumored that there were alligators in that area, many of my classmates proceeded to swim in and across the river. I watched as they dove in one by one. Everything seemed okay, so when my turn came, I dove in and swam across.

On my way back, however, I dove in and came up in an almost vertical position, as opposed to a more advantageous horizontal position. The difference between those two positions in a river with undercurrent is that unless you are a very good swimmer, you could find yourself unable to swim while upright; instead, you would only be treading water, which could tire you in a short time. That is what happened to me.

When I realized my predicament, I almost panicked. My brain was telling me that my body was getting tired and that I needed help. However, my emotional response was to not let anyone know of my situation because the guys might laugh or view me as weak, which is a horrendous feeling for a teenager. My feelings dominated my better judgment and would not allow me to call for help while I was literally fighting for my life. My brain was telling me that my arms and legs were getting tired, but I would not listen. Providentially, one of the boys either saw that I was in trouble or just wandered over inadvertently. He pushed me, and I was able to swim to shore. As I regained my bearings, I wondered why I’d allowed my emotion to override what my brain was telling me to do.

In retrospect, I discovered that one fear can trump another. In other words, if a person who is fearful of heights is in a building that is on fire, he may jump out of that building and die from the fall rather than remain inside and die from the fire. In essence, the fear of falling is trumped by the fear of being burned. Our daily life decisions, while complex, are usually nowhere near that extreme. Nevertheless, some of the decisions we make could prove very costly—and even fatal.