Florence Chadwick—An Inspirational Story

People of my generation may have heard of Florence Chadwick—people of ‘the Greatest Generation’ certainly have—but people of the Millennial Generation could do well to learn from this 34 year old long distance swimmer’s experience and how it could help them.  

Florence came to the world’s attention when, in 1950, she swam the English Channel from France to England in 13 hours and 20 minutes breaking the world’s record.  The next year she swam in the opposite direction setting another world record for time and yet another record for being the first woman to swim the channel in both directions.  

Those facts may be awe-inspiring enough.  But the lesson she learned in a very difficult  California swim was the one I found to be the metaphor for all who face seemingly unending challenges.  

In 1952 she attempted to be the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.  After fifteen hours, 55 minutes, she was pulled out of the 48 degree water just a mile from her goal. She told a reporter, “Yes, I was cold.  No, I wasn’t too tired to go on.  I was beat by the fog.”  

Later, writing of her effort she said,  “The California Coast had been shrouded in fog that 4^th of July morning.  Even the boats in our own party were almost impossible to see.  When my mother and my trainer told me we were in sight of shore, that only fog obscured our landing place, I thought they were only coaxing, only encouraging me.  I didn’t believe them.  I couldn’t see it.  And I was so cold.”  

Because her effort was being televised as a pioneer sporting event in a then brand-new media, thousands and thousands of people had ‘seen,’ as best they could, the swim. Within days she received over 3,000 letters  which “indicated they had seen much more in my long effort than I had.  Something in the picture of a cold, lonely girl, swimming on and on through the night, touched them. and when they learned I would try it again gave them strength to hold on in their own battles.” 

“Their responses to my effort made me feel almost unworthy.  None of my successes had ever won me so many friends.  But the failure to swim a channel of water enabled me to learn something that will last a lifetime.  For reflection helped me see clearly that I had been licked by the fog.  Like doubt, confusion or discouragement, the fog alone had no power to stop me.  But because I let it blind my heart and reason, as well as my eyes, then it really defeated me.”  

Slightly over two months later Florence Chadwick tried it again. She said, “fog or no fog, I wouldn’t let these people down again. I remembered that Jesus had said to one of His disciples: ‘Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.  Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.’” At that moment I knew the real meaning of faith described in the Bible as, ‘the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.’  When fog obscures our own vision, even when we’ve gone all out, and still seem to be failing and are too tired or cold to go on, then we must be willing to accept the word of someone who sees a little clearer, knows a little better than we do.”  

When she set out to swim it again on September 20^th, 1952, the distance was the same, she wasn’t in any better condition, they encountered many of the same obstacles as before: sharks came nearby and were shot by members of her crew in the accompanying boats, the water was still numbingly cold, and in the middle of the course dense fog set in again.  But she swam through it.  Keeping a mental image of the shoreline in her mind, having a perspective of where her strength really came from, and a reference point, and trusting those who could see, made the difference this time.  

When she reached the California shore, the first woman to do so and breaking the men’s record by two hours, she knew her victory was being shared by thousands who were praying for her, and her knowing that He to whom they prayed could assure any victory.