Recovering from the Shock

I came here from your IAG Members email. The piece is well written and the thoughts are well received. That said, I'll say I've always wondered if I'm perpetually numb and unfeeling or just so completely out of step with the rest of the society surrounding me that I might be better suited living on a deserted island or in a cave. Oddly, on September 11th, I stayed home sick from work. My wife woke me when the news of the first plane strike broke into the programming she'd been watching (she was a stay-at-home mom). My first comment was, "Hmm; terrorists."

A little background may be in order here. I spent eight years in the army military police and another eight in civilian law enforcement. In 2001, that career was eleven years behind me. When I left the military, it was after spending two-thirds of my enlistment in Germany during the height of that country's worst terrorist activity. To be certain, the paramilitary terrorism of the Red Brigade and Badder Meinhoff was quite different from the suicidal style of Middle East terrorist. But one thing remains constant... killing people who have nothing to do with the supposed subject of their anger; e.g., civilians and other noncombatants.

Upon join the civilian law enforcement community, my concerns for preparation against the inevitable terrorist attack in the US was always met with similar comments: "Yeah. Right. That'll never happen here." Even in 1993 when a bomb was exploded in the underground garage of the Trade Center and again in 1995 with the Oklahoma City bombing, people in positions to take preventive measures did the same thing... nothing. So in 2001 when four jetliners were hijacked and 3000 people lost their lives, my second thought (after "Hmm; terrorists.") was, "I told you so."

It saddens me that people have to die before what should have been done, is done. But we have only to look at the local example (on a much smaller scale) of the dangerous traffic intersection to see just how true it is. No matter how much a community complains the intersection needs traffic control, until someone dies, nothing is done. When the death occurs, men and women in suits gnash their teeth, wring their hands, and look sorrowful as they pat their respective backs and swear such a horrible thing will never happen again because they have now made the intersection safe. However, across town there are dozens of other intersection in the same condition which won't receive their due attention until someone dies.

Maybe it is the nature of the beast. Maybe blood has to be thrown in ones face before they understand how precious it is.

Your reactions don't surprise me, William (by the way, thank you for taking not only the time to read but to also post your thoughts). People who are typically in demanding situations seem to be suited to their work because they are able to push back the human and emotional responses in deference to being level headed and clear thinking. These are the types of people needed in a calamity situation. They are the ones who appreciate what needs to be done and in what order. They are not given to histrionics and exaggerated recounts of what happened.

These are the types of people who see, register, and do some small thing to make the situation better for the future.They sublimate their feelings until after the emergency has been handled. For some of us, the emergency gets concatenated onto other similarly shocking Life events and there simply is no time to release the pressure valve until some small incident stops us in our tracks and forces us to "feel" the emotions.

It's so unfortunate that we have this philosophy of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." Far too many things that create a dangerous situation go unchecked and an accident, sometimes of great severity, results. Concomitant with that are costly product liability and negligence law suits.

The thing of it is, we need the unique person with the leadership and organizing skills who is in the midst of the multitudes. It takes having those individuals to help bring order. The alternative is everyone is a leader, a chief, shouting out orders with no one certain of what should be done first nor who deserves deference. [aka, all chiefs and no indians]

There are those who pull things together after the disaster. There are also those who see the problem and endeavor to take steps to repair it before there is an accident. Unfortunately, those individuals have a huge job before them because if the task requires more than just their individual efforts, they then have the need to convince others to join them in the endeavor. Many times that also means gaining government (at some level) approval.

It's people who have the foresight to recognize the potential danger and also have the interest in being proactive who help us not have to pick up the broken pieces.