Rio Dulce Chisme Vindicator

[Scoop]

Nancy Dryden Photo by DonGato

I have a pretty good imagination.

In fact, ahem, I’ve been sometimes accused of having too good of an imagination.

Sometimes it borders upon “pathetically ridiculous”, according to my wife Jane whose view of my mental warps is perhaps distorted a bit since, poor thing, she chooses to live with me 24/7. A rather resilient lady. She’ll probably read this in the morning. Hi, Jane.

But never, in all of my grandest feats of imagining … or, as the late Hondo Crouch of Luckenbach, Texas, termed it, “imagineering”, can I imagine what Nancy Dryden felt when she and her late husband Dan were attacked August 9 on their boat, s/v Sunday’s Child, at anchor in Monkey Bay here on the Rio Dulce.

Nancy saw her husband resist the attack of four intruders on their boat.

And she saw him fatally wounded as he tried to protect them and their boat.

And she saw one of the intruders turn to her and stab her in the chest with what investigators believe to be not a machete but an ice pick. Most likely it was the same ice pick taken from their own galley.

Nancy is not a large imposing “kick yer butt” woman with tremendous physical strength. She’s an attractive, slim, brunette who stands barely tall enough to reach her husband’s shoulder.

Yet, this woman, with a puncture wound to her chest and lung, managed to go to the boat’s VHF radio and call for help, most likely with the fervent hope that the life of her husband Dan could be saved, without much regard for her own.

And this same woman, in her hospital bed in Morales, managed to answer news reporters’ phone calls from around the world with clarity, with reason, without hysteria and a desire for vengeance, but with compassion and concern, not for herself but for her children, her family, and friends.

Nancy volunteers her time to help the indigenous people of Alaska, those who are termed the Eskimos, the Intuits.

How ironic that her husband’s life was ended and her life almost ended at the hands of the indigenous people of Guatemala.

I shake my head at this irony and my blood pressure rises. And I get pissed off, to put it bluntly. And I want to “hang ‘em from the bridge.”

But I don’t think Nancy does.

I think this remarkable woman factors in the accumulative influences of indigenous poverty, of need, of an ongoing and seemingly perpetual oppression of life, the anger, the despair, the “easy” solution of entering into a life of theft and sale of drugs and, yes, the flashes of violence … and I think this woman actually and sincerely forgives them.

I imagine -- that this woman – this slender lady with the beautiful smile -- has the immeasurable strength to forgive those who killed her husband, killed their dreams of sailing in the Caribbean and came very close to killing her as well. She forgives them and prays they will someday have a better life.

I don’t think I have that kind of strength, that depth of compassion, that great reserve of fortitude to resist the impulse to “hang ‘em from the bridge.”

I can only imagine.

Thank you, Nancy.

[elpolvo]

scoop-

great editorial.

five stars!!

-polvo

[DonGato]

Emy and I attended the service for Dan with Nancy and her family on Wednesday. We had never met other than to wave or say "Hi!" They lived one dock away. When I introduced myself she gave me a big hug and said, "I know who you are!" as if we had been close friends for years.



I have never met a person who was so positive, so upbeat and so forgiving in light of what she has been through. The entire family reflected the same attitude. Emy and I sat and watched as they grouped around Dan and sang and prayed.

These are some very special people.

Wonderful article Scoop, I think you were able to express what many of us are feeling right now.

[budman]

Nancy,

God bless you and everyone like you.
You are the kind of person that brings civility and grace to our world.
Lord knows we need all we can get.

Our prayers are with you.

Bud and Sharon
S/V Beachouse
_________________
Fair winds for all

[Willy]

Nancy,

Heartfelt condolences on your tremendous loss. You not only lost the love of your life and a true Hero who gave it all trying to protect you, but the world lost yet one more "Good Man". God knows we could use a few more of those. I only hope and pray that I would be the man he was in a situation like that. Rest knowing that he is in the presence of God......waiting for you.

God Bless you all.....
_________________
Poverty motivates me in ways prosperity never could. (stolen from Eddie Jones)

[Gavilan]

Nancy, we read in Prensa Libre about you and your hero, your husband. We regret and condemn what happen to you.
If any of the pirates is captured press charges and ask for capital dead. You have to give a message to the pirates who have been stealing from good people on the river, this is the opportunity to dejar un presedente..."Don't mess with us" that is the only way those scams of garbage understand. Otherwise they will be leafing thinking they are smart.
I am glad you are recovering from your wounds.

[encor]

...i find it very sad and depressing to know the runaround nancy has gotten.

she has not been treated fairly, or timely, and the system is dragging their collective feet to keep her from identifying goods or perps.

same situation with the robbery in the canyon.

it's like they want the victims to just go away and forget about the charges.
_________________
what other people think of me
ain't none a my bidness
...la cronista