Bringing out the best.(minority drowning )(Editorial)

At Aquatics International we do our best to bring you articles, information and ideas that help you do your best. But every now and then, we transcend that goal with an article that does something more: It brings out the best.

One such article was the first installment of our series on minority drowning, "In the Minority" (October 2005). For those who may have missed it, the article laid out the severity of the minority drowning problem and explored reasons the industry has collectively been unable to address it.

It would be easy for professionals to become defensive about such an article, even dismiss it out of hand. But not so for those in aquatics. Based on the many responses we've received so far, not only did aquatics professionals read it, they took it to heart.

Almost to a person, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. One reader, Shari Collins, even told us that she had never written a letter to the editor until now. She felt compelled to write as both a black person and an aquatics professional who wants to offer her help to deal with minority drowning. "I am offering my services to ... any aquatics organization to bring aquatics to the minority masses," she writes.

Due to our publication schedule, we won't be able to publish this letter in its entirety ...