The Helicopter That Didn't Fall

"All five of those get hit by the Taliban... they all fall into the Kabul River." "Ours got hit too... but we didn’t fall."

The Question That Cracked It Open:

“Can you walk us through what it was like to escape Afghanistan—and what you remember most vividly from that moment?”

Cyrus didn’t pause to find a polished answer. He didn’t reframe it. He relived it.

What It Revealed in Real Time

This wasn’t just survival. It was proximity to death—within seconds, feet, and breath. Five helicopters went down. His didn’t. And he’s never forgotten that.

The fracture didn’t come from impact. It came from the fact that there wasn’t one.

That’s what cracked him open.

Because somewhere in the mind of a child, a blueprint was written: “You're not supposed to be here… but you are.”

Why It Matters for the Listener

We often talk about trauma as what happened to us. But Cyrus reminds us—sometimes trauma is what didn’t happen.

And that’s where guilt, gratitude, and purpose begin to tangle.

This isn’t just a memory of war. It’s a seed of identity.

Because once you've made it out of something that swallowed everyone else...You don’t just live.

You carry.