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| Photo courtesy of Microsoft |
I
remember where I was and exactly what I was doing when I first heard that a
commercial airliner had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
Less than 20 minutes later, a second jetliner hit the South Tower. By the time
a third jet barreled into the Pentagon and a fourth went down in a remote field
in Pennsylvania, it was obvious that the United States was under attack and the
world as we knew it would never be the same.
Gone
are the days when we may walk our grandparents down the jet way and escort them
right to the door of an airplane to wave goodbye when they go home after
Thanksgiving. (We can’t even walk through airport security with our shoes still
on.) Gone are the days when the only things we had to worry about when we
traveled were weather delays or mechanical problems on the jet, coach or train
we are traveling on. Oh,
no: that is our old (now largely untenable) subconscious mental script. In the past 13 years, the bigger concern and occasional
reality is whether the person seated beside us is carrying a concealed weapon
such as a bomb or blade. Thirty years ago, hostages on a hijacked plane or ship
could usually rely on eventually being released to survive their ordeal when
the bad guy(s) were caught or left their human collateral behind in their
escape. Since September 11, 2001 most people seem to know—believe?—that we may
not escape such an attack with our lives.
Now,
let’s turn that mind-set around. As a species, humans are very good at
surviving, enduring and adapting to the physical and social environment in
which we live. While I lived in England during the 1990s, everyone knew better than
to ever leave bags, packages or luggage unattended anywhere, or else the police
confiscate and destroy (blow up) the bag in case it was a bomb. Precaution,
observation and adherence to the new security motto if you see something, say something have become our new
subconscious known in the United States, too. We do not take our freedom or
security so much for granted anymore, simply because we can’t afford to do so.
Our metaphoric antennae are ever on alert, ready to raise the alarm if
something doesn’t look, sound or seem right. By the time the passengers and
crew aboard United
Airlines Flight 93 realized their flight was doomed, they likely knew from phone
calls to loved ones that they were heading toward a similar fate as what had
already happened in New York City and Washington. Armed with the knowledge that
they would not survive the hijacking no matter where the flight ended, they reportedly
confronted and fought back against the terrorists. Their heroic actions not
only saved thousands more lives by crashing the plane into a Pennsylvania field
instead of the Capitol building but also created a new subconscious known for
the rest of us: it is okay to fight back. Indeed, since we know and acutely
remember that what happened thirteen years ago could happen again, we are more
ready to jump right into the fray and prevent a fellow traveler from igniting
explosives in his shoes or underwear. Even though we may grumble about the
inconvenience, we submit to the extra interview, x-ray and pat-down at the
security gates before boarding a plane or even entering a landmark building.
For me, our
ability to endure even after those terrorist attacks proved that the capacity
of our subconscious mind is a major key to humanity’s ability to survive
extreme tragedy and bear almost unbearable loss. If not for the SCM’s ability
to translate, store and retrieve those danger
message units from the environment and anchor that perception to a
fight/flight response, countless more people would likely have perished on and
since September 11, 2001.
My thoughts and prayers
are with the victims, their families and friends, and the first-responders who
sacrificed and lost so much, thirteen years ago today.
Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in
Southern California. She graduated with honors from the
Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about
Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
© 2014
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