Laird Hamilton

For Laird Hamilton, having a deep emotion connection with the ocean, riding one hundred foot waves, and tackling death defying situations head on, is all part of Laird's everyday life. To others he is just another person but to me big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton is a role model, my motivation, the best surfer in the world, and most importantly a deserving Hero. Laird Hamilton is a deserving hero because he is wise, he is a waterman, and he is truly brave.

On the date of March 2, 1964, Laird Hamilton was born. When Laird was three months old, he and his mom left California and moved to Hawaii. One day, famous surfer of the time Bill Hamilton was walking down beach when he saw a young boy playing in the water. Bill body surfed with young Laird and that's when they knew they had a special connection. Laird had big plans to introduce Bill to Laird's Mom, Joann Zyirek, and hopefully they would get married. Soon enough Laird's plan worked and he was gifted with the last name Hamilton. Bill and Laird would go body surfing a lot and that's what Laird said "was the foundation of our relationship," (Laird Hamilton). As an outcast, Laird defended his way through school for he was the only white boy in an all Hawaiian school.

By the time Laird was a teenager he had entered only a few competitions, but none were professional. The taste of those minor competitions was just enough for Laird to realize that the competitive side of him was also the worst side of him and Laird wanted nothing to do with it. Eventually, in year 1997 on November 30, Laird got married to professional Volley ball player Gabrielle Reece. They had three kids, Reece, Brody, and Isabella. To this day Laird hasn't competed professionally and still fulfills his passion of riding big waves.

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Laird is a deserving hero because he is wise. Laird describes what riding a big wave is like, "If I had to tell you what riding big waves is like, there's a giant dinosaur outside; this giant dinosaur it's outside and it's just gonna run down the street, you wanna go watch it? Who wouldn't say yes?  Every single person would go running out of the building to go see it.  Waves are like giant dinosaurs," (Laird Hamilton). Laird compares riding giant waves to giant dinosaurs, to him that's the closet thing that he can compare it to for it to even come close to what it is really like. He asks the audience "you wanna go watch it?" because Laird knows that if there was group of people by the ocean and there was someone riding a giant wave everyone would run to go see the fascinating event that was unfolding in front of them, things like that are naturally intriguing."  He admits that he is a risk taker and that what he does it dangerous, but he would say that not doing what you're born to do could be equally as risky,"(Oprah Winfrey). Laird has the knowledge acquired from his life to say that doing risky things is just as dangerous as not doing what you were born to do. I think that he couldn't be more right because if you're not doing what you were born to do then you basically have an empty gap in your heart, and it can't be filled unless you participate in the thing that you were put on this earth to do.

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To me Laird is a deserving hero because he is a person with a deep spiritual connection with the ocean, also referred to as a waterman. "You know I could go to the middle of Afghanistan and show a guy a picture of a giant wave and it would evoke an emotion out of him that would almost be a primal instinct emotion, it would be something inside of you that you don't know why. There's something special that way about it - that's that spiritual aspect of it - that we're all connected to it in a way that we don't truly grasp."(Laird Hamilton) I think that Laird Hamilton is trying to say that water/the ocean can ignite an almost natural emotion inside of us that feels like it was meant to be part of us. Laird knows this because he has felt this emotion ever since he first saw the ocean, it has become part of him, and just the way he describes it seems like he almost is the emotion in my eyes. Laird discusses his thoughts on surfing, "Surfing is a relationship with the ocean, a wave is something pretty primal and the fact that you're able to ride waves that come from a storm, there might something hard to understand about that but it brings you a sensation. I mean you're out there by yourself ultimately and that the intimacy that you're out there in creation in the ocean where life really on the earth would not exist without and somehow you're in this soup, this thing that we're made of, salt water. I love the act of riding a giant wave because it kinda bridges the gap of understanding,"(Laird Hamilton) I thought that I had surfing put together because I'm a fellow surfer myself and I love it and have a passion for just as well as Laird, but after hearing the things that Laird had to say, how he incorporates it to all life and emotion, it just gives me a whole new understanding of the sport. Just seeing someone that has so much to do with the ocean, and seeing someone with just as much if not more love for the ocean and surfing it just really intrigues me. It is almost like Laird was born in the water, it just seems like Laird has it all put together. I mean the ocean is simply his life and just like he discussed how not doing what you were born to do is just as dangerous as doing something risky, I just can't imagine him being put on the planet to do anything else.