Two weeks ago a teenage American girl's bid to be the new youngest person to sail round the globe solo came unstuck when her yacht sailed into a storm in the Indian ocean and her mast broke. She sent out emergency SOS beacons, then she became incommunicado. She was several thousand kilometres from Western Australia, the nearest country with the capability to help her quickly.
Naturally the Australian emergency services responded quickly and appropriately. The only way to get to the sailor was to use a long range commercial aircraft. So a Qantas jet was chartered by the rescuers and flown out to find the yacht. Five hours later the plane spotted the stricken yacht. The rescuers communicated with the sailor using short range radio, and determined that she was in good spirit and physical condition. A surface rescue plan was then put in place for a fishing vessel to pick up the sailor the next day.
The whole rescue mission cost the Australian taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars.
Some sections of the community felt that the money should be recovered from the sailor's family. Fortunately the majority of the community agreed with the emergency service's stance that the money will not be demanded from the family.
The chief of the emergency services reasoned that you can't put a price on a life. I agree with that. Help, whenever rendered, must be free of conditions.
I also believe that all good deeds will eventually be repaid. The repayment, when it comes, will be in greater form or amount than the initial help rendered.
Grace begets grace.
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