As told by a local who was there. This is my story of the day I thought my life would end.
Disclaimer: All meme image credits go out to the original posters who made them (names are in picture or mentioned in post)
I woke up to a flurry of text notifications that morning. While I may only have received it once, hearing a ping from 3 different phones was enough to wake me up at 8am. I half-asleep checked the message only to instantly sit straight up in bed. I went and shook my roommate Kevin awake to look at his phone, he was grumpy with me until he read it and then a silence of disbelief was in his eyes. I went over to wake Peyton who slept over the night before, and said to him...
"I'm sorry for getting mad at you the other day. If we are really gonna die, I just want you to know that we are good."
The sobering realization that life can end at any moment made me realize that even if it's over something stupid or small, life is too short for unnecessary pain. I didn't need the last memory of a good friend to be that I was upset with them. His eyes widened, and Kevin was like; "wow".
The three of us just sat there, faces in phones that this could not be real. Kevin spoke up and said that "I feel like I should call the police to see what's going on." He dialed, only to be met with a busy signal. Peyton decided to check the /pol/ board on 4chan, and I opened up Facebook. Someone must know what's going on right? Everyone was in a frenzy and no one had a clue.
There were a few bomb shelters on island, but trying to pull up their location only brought me articles from last year about how these shelters would not be able to defend against a missile. We were all still more or less tired, but were calmly thinking about the possible ending for everyone and everything we loved.
"I'm going back to sleep", is what I said to the two of them. Kevin questioned my completely irrational choice. I explained contently that if this is happening in a few minutes, I would want to die asleep instead of any other way.
"I had a good run."
Kevin laid back down with a laugh; "You're right. We're kind of on the 31st floor, and have pretty big windows." The realization was with us from the beginning. If this text message was true, it was already far too late for us. We are in the middle of Waikiki/Honolulu. The Capitol I imagine would have been the target, and even if we could drive, we wouldn't have been able to escape out of range. We looked up the amount of time it would take to impact, and it was around 10 or 12 minutes.
Guy Hagi meme. The weatherman who declared a tsunami emergency years ago.
The waves ended up being 1 inch high.
He is called "Lie Hagi", but story has it that he loves his memes so much,
he prints them out and puts them around the office.
We all laid in silence, I don't know what they were thinking. But I reflected back on my life as best as I could for a minute before thinking to myself; "Yeah I'm okay with this. I did live a great life, and I'm not alone." Another minute or so went by before it dawned on us why this felt somewhat... off.
It was so quiet, because there were no emergency sirens going off. The island of Oahu has an Emergency system that's tested at 10 am every 1st of the month and no matter where you are you'll hear it. Loud and clear. If this was, in fact, a crisis scenario they would have gone off. I've read articles and posts from people claiming to have heard them, but there weren't any.
We began searching again, for anything. The time passed, and we were beginning to wonder why nothing was happening. Peyton looked up from his phone for a moment; "We should have been dead by now." Not to be morbid or anything, but we were simply waiting out our demise. A few tweets, and image board posts later we found out that we would be okay. Another 20 minutes passed before we got the second text saying that we weren't in any danger.
It does get surreal when disaster warnings hit the state; when they never end up arriving. This has happened in the past with a tsunami, statewide blackout for one day, an earthquake and a few other things in the past 10 years or so. Now, don't get me wrong, people were speeding at 80/90mph on the H-1 freeway, and others in parking garages, and other safe looking places with family and friends. For us, we had to accept it, or be eternally damned. The moment that we realized that nobody was dying, I opened up my Facebook only to be greeted by memes and posts about the craziest joke of 2018. You have to remember that they said the button to send this message was pressed on accident.
I'm not sharing any images you can find off of "big sites" but instead are some of the hilariousness from my feed. There were literally hundreds of posts and original content. I find it absolutely mindblowing that TOO SOON is not an option for us, in a somewhat estranged manner, or maybe to cope, everyone joined in making light-hearted jokes about it right away. I mean, what are you going to do? The entire state of Hawaii is awake at 8 am, and this was so much to try to absorb, that no one could actually fall back asleep.
When I got into work, I found out that our Emergency text system goes out to everyone's phone in the GPS radius. So not only residents, but tourists statewide had this message to wake up to. A good portion of my cashier shift involved making dark, yet wholesome humor.
"How was your morning today?" smiles
"... I'm glad to hear you are enjoying your vacation, but remember other than beaches, we have sunsets, hikes, and missiles."
I even had a woman from Australia whose flight had landed right after the first text, and she got to the airport in disbelief. Another local woman said with a giggle; "The day can only get better now."
Wherever I turned there were bright smiles and laughter, everyone was actually really grateful that an attack did not go through. People all over complaining about having to go to work now, as if it was the lesser of two evils. It was an extremely positive day, and it's difficult to explain to someone that is not from here. Because the island is very small, synchronicities and strange occurrences happen more often. When something big happens, a mass hysteria of sorts takes place.
Facebook friend Tyler Shirakawa, literally had shirts made within the first few hours for sale in person.
Everyone becomes friendlier to strangers, people help one another more. Some seize the moment and open impromptu food stands on mountains, or run generators to keep one store in a mall open.
It might be the paradise way, but we laugh it off pretty fast and remind ourselves that each day is a blessing and that the hashtag #luckywelivehi is the mindset and not the destination.
It is speculated that with all the near-misses we've had in recent years that we are overdue for something devastating, and the next real text alarm we get may not be taken seriously because of this incident. What I do know is that from being in the middle of this first hand, is not to believe things just because you read them. When you put people of every nationality in a small place, some of weirdest things happen.
So forget what you heard! It was a fantastic day, full of jokes, memes,
and appreciation for life.
9/30
My friends phone had the same alert (but I live in cali so it doesn't even matter as much here) I knew it was bs and called it. Nobody believed me then but they do now.
Your friend is a Hero now.
If you were there you would still call bs, but have that what if lingering over your head too.
That’s fucked up...
The panic or the memes? c;
The texts they received
Yeah it was surreal af
What a great first person description of that crazy day and how to look at the bright side of things
Thank you, it does help!
WOW. That day really put things into perspective for a lot of people. Thank you for sharing your story! I've visited Hawaii many times, and quickly fell in love with the chill vibe and friendly people. I love how you and the people of Hawaii can joke about this and move forward- especially right after it occurred! Props to you for focusing on the positives of what could have been a very traumatic event! :)
Being in a place surrounded by unfamiliar cultures wherever you go, you have to build a tough skin. Behind every laid-back, positive, and funny person is stregnth. Being able to laugh in the face of death is empowering, and the vibe here makes it feel like everyone is psychic sometimes xD
Love the quote from the women who said the day can only get better now. What a great reminder that things could be a WHOLE lot worse!
Bringing the actual worse case scenario to the forefront helped me, and many other people realize that our own silly problems aren't actually a big deal as we make them out to be.
The only way to go is up!~
.....be the first time Kim Jung Un ever led that many people to be inspired in a sort of ironic twist of fate. Who'd thought? Somehow I get the feeling you have all broken his track record of evil...good job!
Yeah, it's insane to think. Y'know, if that is what really went down. Either way, it made everyone stop, which now I can see was much needed xD
Both terrifying and funny at the same time. I suppose if there's something positive in it, it forced a whole lot of people to just STOP and consider what's TRULY important in their lives.
No truer words. I was frozen in place realizing that every little worry or problem I thought I was facing were microscopic becoming almost non-existent in an instant. There are a lot of things that cause us to lose sight of the greater picture and although this reality check was almost incomprehensible to grasp, it lifted over a million people into a higher awareness and appreciation for everything.
...Guess it really does work out in the end c:
The moment everyone become humble. OMG, until I read to the end. This is hilarious, lol
You got it spot on! Glad you enjoyed it c:
Indeed, I enjoyed it. Unto the next post, lol
he follow and upvote I follow and upvote back
<3 get that comment grind on
Awesome first hand story. Real - and funny. This made me laugh - "People all over complaining about having to go to work now, as if it was the lesser of two evils. " lol So true, so glad I do something now that I don't hate lol
I think the adage that,
Holds true here. I know that the regular media tries to paint a specific image about the events to make you pick a side, but in reality- everyone was just so shook that we had to joke about it to mentally and emotionally recover.
When you compare a neuclear fallout being less devastating than going into work, you begin to reprioritize if your job is worth dying for. Reframing a perspective can do many wonders on a person's mental health as well.
You shouldn't be afraid of that at first until you are sure of source of the message. Fake stories can be scary than the true story. That should be a good lesson to everyone.
Fear I feel is not knowing so to overcome it, arm yourself with knowledge. One of the reasons I wanted to write this article was to shed new light in something that mainstream media was not covering, either due to biases, or not having enough information. I purposely left the common details out, because they can be easily Googled.
This was a wonderful lesson altogether.
lol... I'm in Maui right now and this morning was very interesting. It happened to work out in my favour though haha i wrote about it in my blog.
Thanks for confirming that this was statewide, I had suspected as such but it is always good to hear it directly from someone else present. It was an awesome post btw, the food looked delicious!
I'm worried we send some ICBMs back because of a false alarm and start WW3
One of my friends who moved away back to Korea posted to social media the other day about how South Korea is in talks with the North on unifying as one nation. I don't believe there will be a retailiation, but only time will tell.
Geez, @shello, what a way to start and end a day! (Awesome t-shirt too! lol)
Reminds me of some good advice one of my athletic trainers used to recommend to me, "Die each day."
It helped reframe things in a way that has benefited me immensely, over the years.
Hiya @intuitivejakob, it really was an experience. (He's still doing the shirts, I want to order one xD)
Die each day... I want to understand a more about that philosophy, could you elaborate a little on this?
Hey @shello, I'm happy to share a little bit about that.
In brief, it's suggesting that when we are living in each day as if it was the last, we may find ourselves more willing to bring our authenticity and vulnerability forward in a courageous manner that otherwise we may not access.
I'm happy you asked about it, because I think this might make for a powerful blog about how this lesson has helped me recognize hidden potentials in moments where I could've otherwise punked out on what was most important. Thanks for getting me thinking about that!
Thank you for filling me in @intuitivejakob!
A "now or never/there is no later" type of mindset huh? I like it. With my whole timeboxing experiment, I am finding myself saying; I could do it later... or I can do it now! It is a great feeling when jumping into something I am scared of, only to find out I could do it all along!
This would definitely be a great topic to write about, reframing does wonders! I dropped a follow so I hopefully catch it when you post it :D
Thanks, @shello! I followed you, as well.
I came back from death after being hospital poisoned due to cancer care as a late stage patient. Reframing is definitely a thing. I have my own unique ways of doing that, which have helped me tremendously, which is why I live and share the things that I do.
I think that your timeboxing experiment is powerful.
Glad you're sharing how this unfolded before your own eyes a new way to live it. That's what it's all about!💘
Thank you @inuitivejakob,
I don't even know how to respond to this except for wow. I like to think that I have improved, but things can be revised.
Thank you for sharing your story with me, you remind me to push through no matter what. I feel like everyone needs that reminder every once in a while.
Love,
@shello
That's kind of you @shello! I am honored to share something that could help others for the same reason you mentioned. Just knowing that someone else was able to find a way to live and love them self through something can be extremely empowering to learn about when a person is on the other end of something major.
Hope you have an amazing weekend, my friend. Look forward to chatting with you more (and I will be sharing more about my own personal story with this soon).
WOw! Teamsteem mentioned this article to me... holly cow, I wonder what I would do in that situation. Glad the missle didn’t go off. Go back to sleep, what a great thought.
Love the observations you made about everyone after the missle attack news.
Thanks for sharing!
Hello @karensuestudios,
That's pretty cool to see that this article got a lot of reach! Many people were panicking, so call it brilliant, or completely lazy, but a few minutes of extra rest are always welcomed- Even in a nuclear holocaust. I'm also very glad that we are all safe, but it was a nice feeling that I wasn't having a wave of regrets wash over me in my final moments.
Thank you so much for stopping by, and I'm glad that you enjoyed this piece.
Love,
@shello
Dang. I actually had a similar experience... but not as bad.. well just different. I was at the LA airport when there was a false alarm gun shooting... people panicked and were trampling each other to hide and get away. In those moments I became oddly calm. Strange how people react to intense situations.
I can see the similarity, it was much like that! If I was outside when the warning came, I would probably be more panicked. Being in the direct vicinity of an incident would be a lot more frightening I would think! Good thing these both were false alarms c:
Yes for sure! ❤️
he follow and upvote I follow and upvote back
Please read the following guide, asking for follows is bad manners
The Complete Steemit Etiquette Guide (Revision 2.0)
sorry my fault
I bet there is going to be a lot of babies in 9 months. Maybe that's just me that have this kind of twisted mind.
I had written this comment yesterday but maybe I forgot to click post.
I am suuuuuper slow at replying sometimes, so don't even sweat it! ^_^
October 13th, save the date! I still think sleep beats sex any day lmao~
October 13th?
9 months later... xD I wonder what kind of story that would be.
I was born exactly a month and a day after Valentine's, a child of love, not of panic
Omg! Okay you are awesome! I see why teamsteem likes you ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Hahaha!
My cousin lives in Hawaii, and was very much so in this same sort of state of mind the whole way through this. He lives on Honolulu, up on the side of the small mountain there, and like this poster, he wouldn't have been able to get anywhere "safe" in time. He rather calmly accepted things, with his girlfriend, and then when it turned out to not be an actual thing, started cracking jokes and having fun over it - and got back to taking life in stride.
He only just moved to Hawaii this past year, but he has the right kind of mindset for living there, really. It's a great place for him. I laughed over all of the things he was saying on FB once I could read them (I was out running errands when this went down).
However, as I mentioned on his FB post about it, I'm glad it was a false alarm, as I'd hate to have to go after Kim Jung-un (or whomever fired off the missle) over the death of my cousin. We Italians take our vendettas very seriously.
Heya @darkfae,
That sounds about right. I feel that everyone was more or less split into two factions over this crisis. We had the people speed racing to bomb shelters, hiding in make-shift safety, and running for their lives. Then the second group like your cousin and my friends who realized early on that we were not going to survive a nuclear holocaust, and wanted to make the most of the remaining time.
I bet he tells you some crazy stuff yeah? Hawaii really is as magical as he says c: The jokes are still going on, but the hype is already gone. Miss the apex in the blink of an eye. If we were struck forreal, you and many other people the world over would not let this slide. But yes, thank the heavens that it didn't!
Mahalo,
@shello
Back to bed, huh? I love it.
There's certainly no gain in panicking. And your analysis equating to 'what's there to be gained by retreating to a bomb shelter that won't protect me' is pretty sensible. Still, it runs against most people's instinct to flee...
Now you know what you would do in the unlikely event of a real missile strike: nothing!
If I know I'm a gonner, I will not willingly cause myself more pain. I know that there were many people that tried to flee due to fear. Not to say that this wasn't one of the scarier things to happen period xD
O.M.G geeez.. lmaooo
Right? Sh** be ridiculous~
I got scared when i start reading but when i finished i was confused btw laughing or stay scared from panic LMAO ☻
Bruh, that's the best though. A good adage I like goes something like this;
Most people aren't scared anymore c:
haha Yes indeed btw u reminded me of Mr. robot my favorite TV show a similar quote from the first season ☻
Interesting story. :)
I hope this won´t happen ever.
Me neither, just getting the warning once was enough. It doesn't have to happen for real!
Great article and perspextive! Upvoted.
Oh wow haha, people already made so much money selling t shirts about the missile....
It's unreal how people capitalize on disaster. I've seen this in person before and although usually well natured and helpful at times, it shows me that even in the darkest situations, people can come up positive.
ohhh is this prank.
i ma really mazed .?
@qami
Yeah, Hawaii Civil Defense got us good.
terrifying and funny at the same time. great read!
Thank you for dropping by c:
Holy crap. Sorry you had to go through that.
Thank you @gomatthew, but not at all! This was a good experience for a lot of people.
hahahaha
hey em new on steemit kindly follow me
Heya @asfandshaikh, welcome to Steemit. Im glad you found humor in my post, but asking for follows is bad manners.
There is some etiquette that is acceptable on other social media, but not on Steemit. This post has some positive practices that will improve your experience overall. Working hard and treating others with respect is essential to leaving a good impact here. Make lots of friends, and you will never have a shortage of people visiting your blogs!
Was this a prank? Cus it actually felt very serious at the begining,,, smiles,,,, i hope the threat never becomes reality tho
The story is that someone messed up at Civil Defense starting a useless panic. No one knows what really happened. To wake up an entire state super early is a pretty good joke, since nothing came of it.
shit that would have been scary
It was, but it wasn't as bad as the apocolyptic nightmares or movies. Everyone at our house was overtly calm. I thought that I would be more panicked.
Thank you for sharing your story@shello... You could see mine, comment and help me upvote like i did for you @ajadudraws... Thank you
Hello @ajadudraws,
Thank you for the love, but make sure not to go to authors blogs to ask for comments and votes. It's bad manners, and I want you to have a good Steemit experience!
Even though this is past payday already, I just wanted to respond to. What a crazy day this must have been for you guys!!
Its so different compared to for instance hurricanes..what you can prepare for...this is there all of a sudden and what you say, you can only wait...
Sooooo many memes afterwards indeed, source for endless jokes heeheh.
Glad everything turned out to be nothing ej...wow!