#749: How a Blind Man and his Guide Dog Survived Sept. 11 — and What His Mindset Can Teach Us, with Michael Hingson

• Guide dogs don’t lead, they keep you safe: Michael explains guide dogs aren’t supposed to know your destination — their job is only to walk safely and stop when something’s wrong. The handler decides where to go and reads the dog’s signals to figure out why.
• Michael varied his route through the World Trade Center on purpose: He deliberately changed the path he and Roselle took each day so she wouldn’t learn a single route and start anticipating it. That habit meant Roselle never assumed only one way out existed.
• Roselle stayed calm because Michael did: As they walked down 78 floors, Michael kept repeating “good girl, Roselle” the entire way to signal that everything was okay. Other evacuees later said hearing his calm voice is what convinced them to keep moving.
• A coworker’s shouted updates calmed hundreds of strangers: David walked a floor ahead and called out what he saw — clear, firefighters coming up — mostly to steady his own nerves. But everyone within earshot on the stairs heard someone saying things were under control.
• They got out with about an hour to spare: Michael and David reached the street around 9:45 a.m., roughly an hour after the plane hit. Minutes later, Tower Two collapsed about 100 yards from where they stood.
• The real lesson wasn’t survival, it was fear: Michael says the biggest thing he’s learned since is that fear is something you can control, not something that has to control you. He’s spent 25 years since speaking about trust, teamwork, and staying focused instead of “what-ifing everything to death.”

Michael Hingson’s Website
Book him to speak, or read more of his story:
michaelhingson.com

Thunder Dog
The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero:
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