Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

I read in Saturday’s Boston Globe today that “City Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. is ‘convinced that Boston will eventually be attacked by terrorists and vowed to prepare the fire dept to meet the challenge.”

Just the day before I’d had the pleasure of stepping out for an afternoon to shop and relax with my daughter at the Cambridge Mall, while her hubby prepared a paper he’s presenting at a conference this week in Canada. It was all part of a fun few days together over Easter. Well, it was fun until the fire dept and security sent us all out into the frigid temperatures for 45 minutes without coats.

What seemed like an army of men in bright yellow coats and official looking fire hats blocked off entrance ways to the Cambridge parking lot where our car sat in what they led us to believe could be some catastrophic terrorist plot.

It later turned out to be noting more than an odd odor that a few people thought possibly suspicious. Nevertheless, the rigid evacuation demands created fear and chaos as an entire mall full of holiday shoppers scrambled into freezing temperatures. Nobody told us more than to “CLEAR THE MALL IMMEDIATELY AND DO NOT TRY TO GET TO YOUR CAR.”

The next day, I saw the Boston Globe’s feature story titled … Chief Readies Fire Dept for Terrorist Threat…. The fire commissioner was quoted as saying …

” We just want to make sure we are prepared.”

Then he went on to frighten people with a warning …

“There are going to be more terrorists incidents happening in the United States. We don’t know what city might be targeted, but certainly Boston will be at the top of the list.”



Were they practicing on a busy mall full of people? Why did all the men in charge stand inside the warm mall in heavy coats? Why did we wait without coats and without news about why we were held captive in freezing temperatures? Why were we not told when we’d be allowed to get cars from mall parking garages? Why were we forced to flag down and pay for expensive cabs home, because of a slight odor?

Fear freezes the brain, just as much as Good Friday’s terror tactics that left us outside without coats … froze us. Fear prevents us from giving to others, zaps creativity when we need it most and literally shrinks the human brain.

Some say we have to prepare for terror… I say we have to incline toward humanity…. What do you say…?