For the next few paragraphs, I’m going to take my own advice and share a life-altering event in the hopes that this experience may help someone. As an author and speaker, I encourage others to be transparent, vulnerable, and honest so I need to do the same.
How do I recount the violent attack on Salman Rushdie while describing my role in protecting him? To be candid, I struggle with this. Friends encouraged me to write what I honestly still can’t grasp.
It was a serene August morning on Lake Chautauqua. Arriving early, I took a front-row seat at a literary festival. Peace quickly distorted into chaos as an assailant leaped on stage and repeatedly stabbed Rushdie. * (The grotesque sound of the blade thrust into a vulnerable body is what haunts me as I write this.) I was not alone in realizing Rushdie needed immediate help.
A few steps onto the stage, three of us were able to overpower the assailant. Grabbing his collar with my right hand, I pulled the entire pile of bodies away from Rushdie. The guy on my left secured an arm. A guy on my right repeatedly said, “Pin the knife.” A police officer joined in and cuffed the assailant's wrists.
Citizens came to Rushdie’s aid too. Soon I recognized I wasn't needed any longer. The host asked everyone to calmly leave.
Sensing a logjam of people, police, and eyewitness reports, I walked toward the exit but stopped to see Rushdie lying in a pool of blood. He was cared for by a doctor and others from the venue.
Without any burden of second-guessing, the surreal experience keeps replaying in my mind - and heart.
Friends have said words like courageous and brave. That’s what it might look like from the outside. From my perspective, I was simply among those nearest to help.
Others have admitted they don't think they would have jumped in. Running toward chaos is an unnerving notion when personal safety is threatened. Meanwhile seeing something, then doing something is the instinct to protect.
It is clear that how quickly we choose to act and what we do matters beyond our comprehension! It is also clear we each have a choice to be a bystander or an upstander. There have been times in my life when I've done one or the other.
My personal earthquake and the aftershocks pale in comparison to what Salman Rushdie will have to recover from. It is Rushdie who is the courageous one. He is a warrior of free speech and will be undaunted by censors or threats.
*After being stabbed over ten times, Mr. Rushdie is on the path to recovery. May we all hold his well-being in our thoughts.
#chaos #PTSD #Rushdie #freespeech #setbacktobreakthrough
How do I recount the violent attack on Salman Rushdie while describing my role in protecting him? To be candid, I struggle with this. Friends encouraged me to write what I honestly still can’t grasp.
It was a serene August morning on Lake Chautauqua. Arriving early, I took a front-row seat at a literary festival. Peace quickly distorted into chaos as an assailant leaped on stage and repeatedly stabbed Rushdie. * (The grotesque sound of the blade thrust into a vulnerable body is what haunts me as I write this.) I was not alone in realizing Rushdie needed immediate help.
A few steps onto the stage, three of us were able to overpower the assailant. Grabbing his collar with my right hand, I pulled the entire pile of bodies away from Rushdie. The guy on my left secured an arm. A guy on my right repeatedly said, “Pin the knife.” A police officer joined in and cuffed the assailant's wrists.
Citizens came to Rushdie’s aid too. Soon I recognized I wasn't needed any longer. The host asked everyone to calmly leave.
Sensing a logjam of people, police, and eyewitness reports, I walked toward the exit but stopped to see Rushdie lying in a pool of blood. He was cared for by a doctor and others from the venue.
Without any burden of second-guessing, the surreal experience keeps replaying in my mind - and heart.
Friends have said words like courageous and brave. That’s what it might look like from the outside. From my perspective, I was simply among those nearest to help.
Others have admitted they don't think they would have jumped in. Running toward chaos is an unnerving notion when personal safety is threatened. Meanwhile seeing something, then doing something is the instinct to protect.
It is clear that how quickly we choose to act and what we do matters beyond our comprehension! It is also clear we each have a choice to be a bystander or an upstander. There have been times in my life when I've done one or the other.
My personal earthquake and the aftershocks pale in comparison to what Salman Rushdie will have to recover from. It is Rushdie who is the courageous one. He is a warrior of free speech and will be undaunted by censors or threats.
*After being stabbed over ten times, Mr. Rushdie is on the path to recovery. May we all hold his well-being in our thoughts.
#chaos #PTSD #Rushdie #freespeech #setbacktobreakthrough
