Fight or flight- I'm sure you've heard about it. According to the internet, it's: The fight-or-flight response (also called the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response [in PTSD], hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival.[1] It was first described by Walter Bradford Cannon.[a][2] His theory states that animals react to threats with a general discharge of thesympathetic nervous system, priming the animal for fighting or fleeing.[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight-or-flight_response)
I think with humans, it takes a lot of different forms. But I saw it in full force last night at the 4th of July fireworks in downtown Raleigh. I was at Big Easy with my friend Anna, after having had an awesome dinner with her family to celebrate her birthday. Downtown was madness- a lot of really drunk people and generally just lots of people everywhere. So Anna and I are standing there, chatting, people watching and just hanging out. When all the sudden people start screaming and running.
And when I say people, I mean hundreds of people are running --away from something, pushing strollers with children, pushing others to get ahead of them with panic stricken faces. Anna and I very quickly moved flush along a wall near a storefront to get out of the way of whatever was happening. I kept scanning the crowd trying to identify a source of panic-- a runaway car, an individual with a weapon, a rabid animal... what on earth could be causing this madness on what should be a happy celebration of America's birthday? And how many unsuspecting people are already injured in this situation?
There continues to be panic for several more minutes as people continue to run, saying a variety of panicked expressions as they go, or trying to find a place to hide. There were a few folks who were putting their loved ones safety ahead of their own-- men standing on the outside towards the street with their kid(s) and wife pressed against a storefront; men carrying women who had fallen. One fella walked past us, phone to his ear (really, you maintained a conversation during all of that??) saying 'I lost my shoes- I don't know where they went' and I looked down to see, he in fact, had no shoes on in an environment where there was now shattered glass everywhere from dropped beer glasses.
In a scary reality, we never found out what caused this panic last night. We stood there debriefing together afterwards and I shared with Anna what I thought could have caused the panic-- some of the things I had shared above but with more specifics. Was it someone with a gun, or potentially a knife? How could a car have gotten up to Fayetteville St where we were? Anna's first thought was zombies. Funny how we had such different thoughts and reactions despite being in the same circumstances.
In all reality, I'm assuming someone (or a group of people) panicked when they heard some preliminary fireworks go off and it just spread like a wild fire. But it was a hard feeling to shake, as I stood there trying to enjoy the fireworks, I kept surveying the crowd, on high alert. Is this a reality of our society? Is it worth going out into public environments and celebrations like this? Or is it going to be a constant state of fear and panic? And then people were so angry trying to leave downtown at the conclusion of the fireworks show, like they expected the mass exodus of people and cars to be a breeze with no traffic or congestion. (MAN- we've been sitting in this truck for 20 minutes and not moved-- WTF! Well, yes, sir, you're going the same way as about 10,000 other people at the exact same time. So yes, you'll be sitting in traffic for a while-Surprise!)
When we did become a survival of the fittest culture? And how awful that this incident occurred on a day when we are supposed to be celebrating the freedom our country works so hard to maintain and protect? And how many men and women have lost their lives in helping with that effort. I have a whole new level of investment in our freedom now that I have a brother who has been deployed and been in the military for several years now. People's actions and reactions last night were generally so selfish- it just blew my mind.
My only other thought is how many people were out in the same environment as us, and had absolutely no idea this was happening? Or experienced a similar situation in a totally different part of the country? Our shared experiences, or lack thereof, is fascinating to me. And how 2 people can have the same experience, and respond in very different manners. Because, according to Wikipedia, it's all comes down to a physiological response, which primes us to fight... or flight.
I think with humans, it takes a lot of different forms. But I saw it in full force last night at the 4th of July fireworks in downtown Raleigh. I was at Big Easy with my friend Anna, after having had an awesome dinner with her family to celebrate her birthday. Downtown was madness- a lot of really drunk people and generally just lots of people everywhere. So Anna and I are standing there, chatting, people watching and just hanging out. When all the sudden people start screaming and running.
And when I say people, I mean hundreds of people are running --away from something, pushing strollers with children, pushing others to get ahead of them with panic stricken faces. Anna and I very quickly moved flush along a wall near a storefront to get out of the way of whatever was happening. I kept scanning the crowd trying to identify a source of panic-- a runaway car, an individual with a weapon, a rabid animal... what on earth could be causing this madness on what should be a happy celebration of America's birthday? And how many unsuspecting people are already injured in this situation?
There continues to be panic for several more minutes as people continue to run, saying a variety of panicked expressions as they go, or trying to find a place to hide. There were a few folks who were putting their loved ones safety ahead of their own-- men standing on the outside towards the street with their kid(s) and wife pressed against a storefront; men carrying women who had fallen. One fella walked past us, phone to his ear (really, you maintained a conversation during all of that??) saying 'I lost my shoes- I don't know where they went' and I looked down to see, he in fact, had no shoes on in an environment where there was now shattered glass everywhere from dropped beer glasses.
In a scary reality, we never found out what caused this panic last night. We stood there debriefing together afterwards and I shared with Anna what I thought could have caused the panic-- some of the things I had shared above but with more specifics. Was it someone with a gun, or potentially a knife? How could a car have gotten up to Fayetteville St where we were? Anna's first thought was zombies. Funny how we had such different thoughts and reactions despite being in the same circumstances.
In all reality, I'm assuming someone (or a group of people) panicked when they heard some preliminary fireworks go off and it just spread like a wild fire. But it was a hard feeling to shake, as I stood there trying to enjoy the fireworks, I kept surveying the crowd, on high alert. Is this a reality of our society? Is it worth going out into public environments and celebrations like this? Or is it going to be a constant state of fear and panic? And then people were so angry trying to leave downtown at the conclusion of the fireworks show, like they expected the mass exodus of people and cars to be a breeze with no traffic or congestion. (MAN- we've been sitting in this truck for 20 minutes and not moved-- WTF! Well, yes, sir, you're going the same way as about 10,000 other people at the exact same time. So yes, you'll be sitting in traffic for a while-Surprise!)
When we did become a survival of the fittest culture? And how awful that this incident occurred on a day when we are supposed to be celebrating the freedom our country works so hard to maintain and protect? And how many men and women have lost their lives in helping with that effort. I have a whole new level of investment in our freedom now that I have a brother who has been deployed and been in the military for several years now. People's actions and reactions last night were generally so selfish- it just blew my mind.
My only other thought is how many people were out in the same environment as us, and had absolutely no idea this was happening? Or experienced a similar situation in a totally different part of the country? Our shared experiences, or lack thereof, is fascinating to me. And how 2 people can have the same experience, and respond in very different manners. Because, according to Wikipedia, it's all comes down to a physiological response, which primes us to fight... or flight.
Comments