"We’re not here to please everyone — we shared the moment as it was."
Ah, surfing. The most wonderful dance between woman and nature in which a sublime oneness reigns. Peace, goodwill, a deep joy. A gift that is passed from mother to son, father to daughter, in order to keep the zen flowing. Well, in a wild and unforeseen twist, a clip of a father passing surfing on to his daughter has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
In it, a man by the name of Remi Petersen drops into a sizey right with his young daughter perched on the nose of his funshape.
Mother, Kyra-Anne Crous, understandably proud, posted the moment to social media, captioning, “It’s beautiful to see how surfing with her dad has made her so comfortable in the ocean and now she’s even surfing her own board! So proud of this brave little bean and the confidence she’s found out there. Watching her live up to her name Ocean will never stop feeling magical.”
Beautiful and perfect, no?
Well, as you can see, the wave was also shared with another surfer and fury ignited in the comments.
A sampling:
“Now sweetheart, this is how you burn someone…”
“These beautiful people dangerously dropped in on that guy.”
“Dropping in on people with your kids and teaching her not to respect the rules of the lineup. Not cool.”
“Gotta burn before you learn.”
“Never helped my kids catch waves, you learn to paddle first, but hey whatevs.”
Etc.
Petersen hopped in to explain, “For all the keyboard warriors: Remi and Ocean had been waiting their turn for over an hour, and @jesse.moulang told them to go if a wave came so no snaking, no dropping in, nothing shady. This post was meant to share something wholesome, not a place for opinions from people who weren’t even there. Let’s keep it kind.”
He and Crous also battling away with unkind haters line by line.
A sampling:
“Thanks for the laughs…”
“You say I’m ‘hating on others,’ but all I’m doing is setting the record straight. If that feels like hate to you, maybe rethink your own perspective.”
“The truth is, even if I had edited the other surfer out, people would still find something to complain about. Then the focus would just be on my daughter and how ‘dangerous’ it is, etc. We’re not here to please everyone — we shared the moment as it was.”
Etc.
Thoughts?