What If The Plane Blew Up? A Program About Empowering Bystander Intervention

A one-hour interactive program aimed primarily at all-male audiences, but can be offered to all-female or mixed gender audiences.

A New Program from Brett Sokolow on Empowering Bystander Intervention

Program Length: One hour

Program Style: Interactive

Intended Audiences: 

• Risk Management for Fraternities
• Risk Management for Sororities
• Male Athlete Training
• Student Athlete Training
• Hazing Risk Management
• Sexual Assault Risk Management
• Problem Drinking Risk Management
• Leadership Training

In 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks, I was scheduled to visit a college client.  It happened to be the first day the airports reopened, and it was my job to be on a plane, so I went to Newark airport to catch my flight.  As I waited in the departure lounge, a man wandered in.  Actually, he staggered.  His lit cigarette caught my attention first.  Then I noticed that he was literally drenched with sweat.  I thought someone would tell him to put out the cigarette. 

I watched as he approached the service desk and received a boarding pass.  For my flight.

I watched as the gate agent took no notice of his odd appearance.  I did.

I watched as he got in line to board the plane as boarding was called.  Ahead of me.

Sweating profusely.  Smelling of alcohol.  Puffing a lit cigarette in the departure lounge of an international airport.

And, I just watched.

Three seats down from me, another passenger waiting to board my flight apparently saw the same thing, and as the disheveled passenger was about to board, rose from his seat and confronted the man.  He called to the gate agent to summon security.  As soon as he rose and approached the man, so did four other men in the gate area.  I was one of them.  We surrounded him until security could arrive.  They detained him, and he did not board our plane.

Later, I read about him in the newspaper.  He was found to have strapped about his chest a vest full of C4 explosives.  They proved to be fake, and he claimed he was just testing to see if the airports were any safer after the attacks.

Thanks to the man three seats down from me, they were.  What if this passenger had boarded?  What if the explosives were real?  What if he had blown up the plane?  My plane.  That day, I stopped being a bystander.

For most of my life prior to that point, I stuck up for myself pretty well, when it was my ox being gored.  I let other people fend for their own oxen.  Most of us do.  I tried to steer away from conflict, and to avoid being pulled unnecessarily into situations that were other people’s problems.  The man three seats down from me was truly courageous.  I was only courageous enough to stand and confront the man once someone else had done so.  Once there was strength in numbers.  Yet, I saw something that was wrong.  It was about to happen.  And, I decided not to act.  Never again.  Now, I am the first person to trust my instincts, pay attention to the gift of fear, and intervene.  I don’t stand idly by, because there really are no innocent bystanders. 

As members of a community, we all have a duty to act.  Not just to save ourselves, but to protect the rights, well-being and safety of others.  We have all been in positions where we knew something was wrong.  Some of us watched.  Some turned away.  Very few of us did anything.  For most of us, intervening is not a natural instinct.  But, it can be taught, and it can be learned.  “What if the Plane Blew Up?” is about empowering bystanders with the right, the will, and the skills to intervene.  Through stories, audience participation and motivational exercises, audience members will be inspired not to be one of the four guys who waited in the departure lounge, but the one man or woman who did something because they had to. 

Audience members will learn that when they see something amiss, often others do as well.  If you act first, as a leader, you will find that the other four who are watching will soon have your back.  But, if you do not lead, no one may follow.

This one-hour program is aimed primarily at all-male audiences, but it can be offered to all-female audiences, or audiences of mixed genders.  There are many ways in which bystander intervention will make a difference on a college campus, and “What if the Plane Blew Up?” can be focused on specific issues, depending on your needs.  High-risk Drinking.  Hazing.  Sexual Assault.  Prejudice.  Or, it can be directed at multiple topics in which intervention can make all the difference between a crime and safety.  Between life and death.  Between right and wrong.   

We all know that encouraging bystander intervention is a key to safer campus communities, but it is difficult to figure out just how to inspire intervention by students.  This program has been designed specifically to help you empower your students to act to make a difference. 

Sexual Assault as an Example

In addition to our student programs, NCHERM offers more than thirty risk management workshops which can accompany any student program.

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