Standing silently at the ocean on Bondi coast, hand in hand with close to a thousand colleagues, Lockie Cook opened up to the anguish of a area's most traumatic week in modern times.
“I feel like that guard’s just dropping,” he remarked.
Volunteer lifeguards came together in large numbers on Saturday morning to participate in two moments of quiet reflection and remember those lost in the previous weekend's violence.
Babies, grandparents, neighbours and schoolmates wearing their iconic colours stood together, making a human chain stretching from the iconic bay's north end toward its southern point.
“The most important aspect that’s come out of this is just the depth to which this community means to me,” he expressed.
“Here is our spiritual ground … It’s just important we come together again and truly recover.”
A Moment of Quiet Contemplation
At 8.15am, the period of silence was initiated by a man at the beach’s main patrol tower, near which had been laid bunches of flowers.
“A short time can be a very long time but take this time for introspection,” he said.
“Hold hands with the individual next to you, close your eyes and think about the those who are suffering so we can rebuild with strength for this locality.”
Attendees stared at their feet or to the ocean as residents, visitors and officials stood by. The sole audible things were the lapping of the sea, a lone dog’s bark and a droning rescue helicopter, which flew along the shore as the moment concluded.
Healing on the Sand
People gathered slowly turned to embrace and clap for their companions at the opposite end of the beach as applause erupted from the observing onlookers.
This was one more demonstration of the rescuers working to strengthen the community this week, said one individual, a member of the Jewish community of the beach's north side and a first responder on that fateful day.
“Right now, I sense the compassion and solidarity,” expressed the individual, who wished to remain anonymous.
Having made his home in Bondi for decades, he joined the swim on in the days after and has sought to take back the beach as his own.
“It was like asserting a presence, it’s therapeutic,” he added.
The Guiding Spirit of Rescue
Gene Ross, a experienced lifesaving teacher, spent the quiet time beside his just-trained son, thinking about the unity his club had demonstrated in the days following Sunday.
“Choosing to do the violence here … invited Australia to rally behind the people.”
A great number of lifesavers laughed and cried together as they made their way toward their surf clubs and through the area where their fellow members helped the injured on Sunday.
Dozens more stayed on the shore, prepared to assist people returning to the surf.
“We serve the entire community and that’s the guiding spirit of lifesaving,” Ross said.
“It is our calling as lifesavers: we move toward the emergency.”
