Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board by Bethany Hamilton

Author:Bethany Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: *Updated*
Publisher: MTV Books
Published: 2004-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

the world sends get-well wishes

But that aloha spirit wasn’t limited to Hawaii. All over America, even all over the world, people were reading news reports or magazine articles about me and were moved to write a note or a card, often slipping in cash, and mailing it off to the address that Noah had posted on my Web site. Children in classrooms sent me crayon drawings and get-well-soon wishes.

My folks, checking their mailbox, were astounded to find thousands of letters awaiting them. How could they possibly read all of them, much less respond? But they tried, finding good wishes—along with checks or cash, sometimes hundreds of dollars, sometimes a five dollar bill—in the envelopes. All of us were stunned by what was happening. We could understand the aloha that was given to us on Kauai—that’s what we would have done if this had happened to anyone we knew. But for all this kindness to come from people who had heard about my story from the media? Well, we were shocked.

In talks around the dinner table we discussed why this might be happening. I’m a big believer that most people in this world are truly kind, generous, and bighearted, and this supports my theory. I think they heard about this kid who got her arm bitten off and they wanted to simply help out in some small way. My mom’s theory is that there are a lot of people who have a deep faith in God and they wanted to encourage me because I was outspoken about my faith. Dad’s take on it? He thinks many people let their problems get them down and walk around with this “Woe is me” attitude. Well, here I come, determined to get back the life that the shark tried to take from me. No woe—just go, go, go! Maybe I gave them the kick they needed to get back on their feet. In the end, we really don’t know why so many people wrote, prayed, or gave, but we are very, very grateful for each one of them and their thoughtfulness.

One organization, Save Our Seas, heard about what had happened to me and heard me say in an interview that if I couldn’t surf again, maybe I would take surf pictures. So they offered to train me in video and still photography as well as get me scuba-certified and enrolled in a special course for underwater photography. It was an awesome offer that I still might take them up on when I get a little less busy.

For now, I’m just taking things one day at a time. My mom started to keep a big scrapbook with all the articles that were being printed about me. Most of them were pretty accurate and got the basic facts right. Some of the longer articles in magazines actually gave a better picture of all that was going on. A few years from now it will be fun to pull out that scrapbook and read it. Right now, well, we are still adding pages.

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