"Where were their parents? "
Really? Did your parents follow you all around when you were 17? Mine sure didn't nor would I have expected or wanted them to. I had a bicycle and traveled many miles away from home. Sure they wanted a general idea where I was headed (Marc's house, back by dinner time) but what exactly I was doing or if I was at his house or within a mile or so away at the shopping center or on his paper route or crossing the old falling down roadway bridge over a river they didn't know. The same was true for all my friends.
It's hard to imagine any young person that hasn't pulled a bonehead play or two, some of them do it on a regular basis. As parents you try to drill into their heads the REASONS not to do this stuff and that, in some cases, by the time you know you are in trouble it's too late to get yourself out (like falling into ice cold water). Hopefully some of it sticks. I'll bet this young woman never forgets this hard knock lesson.
My lesson came about when I tried to swim across a river. I could walk out from the beach side a third of the way across. I figured I could swim the middle third and then walk the last third. Only one problem, unknown to me the far side was a drop off. After trying to find bottom about ten times and almost exhausted, I barely made it to the far shore. I was gasping and resting and thinking about how to walk back when the lifeguard came up behind me in a boat and gave me a ride back. I remember it well. Every time I stopped and tried to find the bottom, I thought I was going to drown. I really wasn't even that reckless. But I learned that you really need ALL the information before you jump into a situation.
BTW, my parents were in the beach watching me. I knew how to swim, although I'm not a strong swimmer. They figured I was just going to swim out a bit and turn around. When I didn't, THEY told the lifeguard. It was my fault, not theirs. I survived and got a little smarter. I was grateful they didn't nag me about it. They knew I had learned my lesson.
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