#907 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Wednesday April 24)
Good morning,
In Jenny Offill’s novel, Weather, the protagonist increasingly becomes anxious about the disruptive and dangerous times in which we live. She considers how the world is facing mounting problems and, lamenting these problems, opts to prepare for disaster and becomes something of a prepper. She attends a lecture about how to survive disasters, natural and manmade. The speaker notes something I’ve come to understand from reading some of the details about those who survive fires, floods and other catastrophes:
"It is a myth that people panic in emergencies. Eighty percent just freeze. The brain refuses to take in what’s happening. This is called the incredulity response. Those who live move.”
The message? Not acting is an action in and of itself. To save oneself requires agency and quick decision-making. It rarely is advisable to wait for help to come.
AN ANECDOTE
I am reminded of the story about the man who, despite his neighbors leaving town amidst a horrific storm, stood his ground. The fire department came to evacuate him. His response was “I’ll stay. I have faith in god. He will save me.” Flood waters started to rise. The Coast Guard sent a boat to take him to safety. Again, “I have faith in god. He will save me.” Later, as the flood, he was standing on his room, water up to his knees, and a Navy helicopter came to escape him. Again, he put his faith in god. Eventually, the flood overtook him and he drowned. When he made it to heaven, he said to the lord, “I don’t understand. I put all my faith in you. I depended upon you to save me and yet I died.” God answered, “What are you talking about? What else would you have me do? I sent the fire department; I sent a rescue boat; I sent a helicopter. All you had to do each time was just get in.”
FLIGHT OR FLIGHT—OR FREEZE?
In the June, 2004 issue of Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, the article, “Why People ‘Freeze’ in an Emergency: Temporal and Cognitive Constraints on Survival Responses” suggests, “It is commonly held that, faced with a threat to life, an individual will tackle the situation either directly or by taking evasive action: the classic ‘fight or flight’ response. Systems for escape, evacuation, and rescue are designed on the assumption that people will be proactive in the face of danger.”
What the authors found in studying various disaster scenarios is that most people in fact do not act, but actually freeze, concluding that “Failure to act (immobility or “freezing”) is an impaired response that delays evacuation, establishing a closed-loop process that leads to fatalities in otherwise survivable situations.”
The conclusion? Inaction is an action in and of itself. In times of danger, one must assess the situation to determine quickly the best course of action. It nearly always is better to act and to do so quickly. If an alarm is going off in a building, it is better to leave the building than wait for matters to get better or (perhaps more likely) get significantly worse.
Have a great day,
Glenn