Mettle Forged in the Fires of Chaos

I was doing some research for a paper on the London attacks of yesterday and came across the image at right on the BBC website.
The accompanying text 'Graeme Weston: "I met these two people at Tavistock Square walking to hospital. They said they were in the front carriage of the tube as it left Kings Cross when a bomb had exploded. They said they were the lucky ones.' "
I love this picture. I dont know how to say it any better, especially given the circumstance, but I do. I am struck by, and in admiration of, the strength displayed by the woman particularly. She is a pretty woman, even disheveled by stress and action and covered in the dirt and grime of fire and explosion, but there is more to her than just that. The little smile for the camera man, its sad but she is trying. Instead of freaking out, stumbling around in a daze, she and her husband/boyfriend are doing something, they understand what has happened and have accepted the sad reality of it. They are alive, and although sad and no doubt horrified, still thankful for their lives.
This is just a wonderful image of strength, and solidarity between two people (look at him looking at her, I'd take that look in admiringly and proudly too if I was hers), in the aftermath of crisis, horror.

To be a successful survivor of an event like this - or even to be a successful responder (the career field I am entering) - you have to muster this kind of strength, it is essential that you have an understanding and acceptance of the event that has just happened and the chaos going on around you. This is critical.
Human beings make decisions, especially in crisis, in a cyclical fashion. This has been defined as the Observation, Orientation, Decision, Action Loop (or OODA Loop). To make a decision one has to not only see whats happening around them, they have to orient to it, become aware of the reality of the event. In a crisis when a person is forced to make a decision quickly in a situation that involves chaos, high levels of unsurity and risks to personal safety (physical, financial, psychological/emotional, or combinations there of) their loop can get interrupted and they can fail to process critical bits of information, or even to be aware of them. Getting stuck on one majority of an event, I.E. in the London bombings focusing on "explosion, oh god, bomb, terrosim, explosion", causes this - without effective information processing, no decision can be made and panic ensues. Thats why I say its important to be Aware and Accepting of the event(s) that have happened or are happening around you, you dont have to be numb to it but you have to be able to accept it as "this is whats happening, this is reality" to effectively deal with it and handle yourself in it.
Once that is done, you can set about rational decision making and positive actions, to help yourself or to effectively carry out duties (if a first responder).
Not everyone has that mettle - especially in a world where most of us can count on someone being there to help us (I.E. those first responders who by nature of that mettle may have chosen that career). I think it is wonderful to see such a display of it as in that above photo. What a wonderful image.

(Image at right shamelessly stolen from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4660563.stm )