On CNN today was an article about the passengers on the Northwest Flight 253 with the Christmas Day Bomber. While many of them were angry about the incident, at the bomber, the airlines and the government, I was interested to hear that one passenger found a positive aspect to the experience.
Roey Rosenblith, 27, who co-founded Village Energy, a company in Uganda that hopes to help bring solar electricity to the 80 percent of Africans who have no electrical power said of his experience:
"Though this might sound strange, for me personally almost getting killed 30,000 feet above the earth by an al Qaeda terrorist has been one of the best things that's ever happened to me," he said. "Now being alive, seeing the blue sky, hearing the rain fall, eating a delicious meal, drinking a beer with a friend -- everyday stuff just feels like an amazing gift. ... I feel as though I've somehow cheated death and against all odds been given this gift of continuing my life."
He even framed his ticket on his wall so he can look at every day to be grateful for each moment.
The article he wrote for the Huffington Post reads like a good novel. In it, he describes everything that happened on the plane from his point of view. It wasn't until he was safely on the ground and saw the CNN reports about the attempted bombing that he realized how close to death he really was.
I can't even imagine being in a situation like this. Even if I were in a near death experience -- and really, that's what this was -- I think I'd be in so much denial that it happened, I'd probably try to put it out of my mind forever. What in the human mind causes some people to see a traumatic event as a gift and others to be angry or bitter about it or just put it out of their mind?
A friend of a friend of mine told me that she was in a small airplane flying in Alaska and the pilot told them that if they didn't throw all of their luggage out of the hold, they were going to crash. After that, she re-evaluated her life and decided that she was going to do one of the things she always thought about doing: going to law school. She said "Honestly, that made me realize that life is happening now and it can end at any moment."
I look at some points in my life, the times when I was physically and mentally abused by a spouse and I honestly can't remember them. I have friends tell me about "Oh don't you remember back in college..." and it is just not there. There are points in my life when I was severally depressed and it is like I lost several years.
Why do I do this? Is this how I deal with severe stress in general? Is it some kind of weird survival technique so I can "keep going" even if times are bad? Is this something that I do, or do others experience this weird "time loss" as well?
Is there a way to re-program myself to see the good in some traumatic experiences? I have to wonder. Because as strange as it sounds, I want to "get" what my friend and the guy on flight 253 are talking about. I want to feel absolutely grateful each and every day for all that I have.
If you were on flight 253, how would you would feel about it?
- CNN article "Passengers who flew with accused Christmas Day bomber speak out".
- Huffington Post Article Over Detroit Skies
- Village Energy Uganda
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