I currently find myself immersed in coverage of the typhoon aftermath in the Philippines. Why is there such a public fascination with disaster, whether natural or man-made? Sure, there is a vicarious thrill from imagined terrors while reassuringly safe on a comfy sofa in a climate-controlled den, but I think it goes deeper. It's really the survivor stories we want to hear. The silent dead and destroyed buildings are only backdrops. We are all vulnerable to unexpected disaster, from a natural catastrophe to a personal crisis like a car crash or cancer, and we want to be survivors, too. There are many great true-story books about disaster and survival to guide us. Just a few that I've read: Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson about the 1900 Galveston hurricane; the classic A Night to Remember by Walter Lord; The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger; Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer; and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. From these, I would boil disaster survival down to three ingredients: luck (which I can't control), preparedness (which I can purchase with supplies, training and support services) and the right mindset. This last, the psychology of the survivor, is the secret that I think we seek in disaster stories. People who survive seem to stay calm and clear-headed, to take quick appropriate actions, and to remain adaptable and resilient. Why aren't they paralyzed or panicked by fear and hopelessness? The answer seems to be that survivors conquer fear with their faith in a positive outcome. The source of that faith can be religious belief or scientific knowledge or disciplined self-reliance. But, basically, to survive, you often need to believe in your own survival despite the odds. So feed your faith to starve your fears, as the proverb says, and check out some of these inspiring disaster tales on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Disaster-Books/lm/160WDNETXV59H
No comments:
Post a Comment