Are You Prepared to Act When It Matters Most?

"This paradoxical relationship was on full display during the tragic terrorist attack that occurred at Bondi Beach in Australia on December 14, 2025, during a Hanukkah celebration. This was a vicious assault on practicing Jews celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights-a holiday that speaks directly to positive psychology principles of resilience and antifragility. It is a celebration of overcoming adversity in the face of oppression."

"While tragedy struck with many dead and even more injured, there was a local hero who exemplified the purest definition of Courageous Optimism and risked his own life in service to saving others-an upstander of the highest caliber. There were others who were frozen by the moment and surrendered their oath to fear and cowardice, reducing themselves to bystanders. If you reflexively assume that the local police officers on scene ran toward the gunfire while others ran away, which would be a completely reasonable assumption,"

The Courageous Optimism Theory proposes that optimism combined with readiness and skill enables individuals to act prosocially in dangerous situations. It contrasts courageous optimism with pessimistic cowardice, where people fail to act because of lack of will, insufficient skills or tools, or inability to overcome fear. The theory applies to both law enforcement and civilians. The Bondi Beach terrorist attack on December 14, 2025, during a Hanukkah celebration exemplified this paradox: some individuals, including a local upstander who risked his life, displayed courageous optimism, while others froze and became bystanders. Not all officers behaved uniformly during the incident.

Read at Psychology Today