Digression: A little story about your own "reality bubble" and "reality". Our church had a talent show some years ago, where we had a tragedy. One of the performers in the show suffered a medical emergency (cardiac arrest) during a performance 1/x

They were on stage, and they suddenly collapsed. This was the first time I saw how people react in an emergency situation. 99.9% of the churchmembers FROZE. 2/x

They did not know what to do. They said: "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" "WHAT IS GOING ON?". Meanwhile, the church member was on the floor. They said "LET'S ALL HOLD HANDS AND PRAY!" 3/x

Luckily, there were two retired firefighters among the audience, who immediately rushed up and started CPR. 4/x

Everyone else was FROZEN (myself included, pre-first aid training). The retired FF's called 911. The church members, started to hold hands and pray, but did nothing to help. Fortunately, someone woke up and shuffled everyone OUTSIDE and cleared space for emergency crews. 5/x

The CPR helped, and crews applied an AED, getting the ailing church member to the church alive. (Unfortunately, he did not survive due to heart damage.). However, the experience brought home to me how you need to ACT, not freeze, in emergencies and disasters. 6/x

Most people FREEZE when they don't know what to do, or in the face of a shocking circumstance. That's when your reality bubble is shattered. You need to come back to reality and see the situation and decide what you need to do to help. You can't freeze. 7/x

This is the struggle I now see in larger scale during disasters (particularly in an era of disasters). We now are in an environment (driven by climate change, and recently, the pandemic) where there is NO BUSINESS AS USUAL. You can't FREEZE 8/x

You can't pray your way out of these disasters. You need to ACT; consider what you would do in the case of a wildfire, hurricane, flood in your neighborhood; and be prepared to address the issue if it occurs. You can't expect other people to do this for you. 9/x

Our church, after this, installed an AED. Anyway, hoping this is helpful: instead of FREEZING, consider what you should do--ahead of time--in disasters, and look at true REALITY, rather than your bubble, and do the right thing!