The Man in the Water

The Man in the Water

In the essay “The Man in the Water” by Roger Rosenblatt, the Man in the Water did something heroic that most other people probably would not do. He and a great deal of other people were in a plane crash and landed in the Arctic Ocean. They were floating in the middle of freezing cold water with no one around to help. Soon enough, a helicopter rescue team came to save the group of people that had crashed by pulling them out of the water. Every time the rescue team lowered a lifeline or a flotation ring to the Man in the Water, he passed it on to another of the passengers that were with him on the plane. That selfless act was beyond doubt, heroic and admirable.

The Man in the Water fascinated Rosenblatt. There were two specific things about him that awestruck Rosenblatt. One of them was the actual act of selflessness that the Man in the Water completed by sacrificing himself. The other was the fact that the Man in the Water was a real person and was just like everybody else. This is a true story. A man actually had the courage and compassion to place others before him. Self-sacrifice only happens rarely on occasion. Not many other people would be willing to do what he did, yield his own survival for complete strangers.

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