To add context, this refers to a lesson from WW2 by Abraham Wald.

American bombers would come back damaged, so Wald calculated the average damage (bullet holes down on the planes) on the returning planes to help offer clues as to where to focus the armor on the planes (since armor can only be provided in limited quantities due to weight). The thing he realized was that, the damage should be completely random and evenly distributed on the planes. They weren’t. The planes returning had less damage on their engines, and mid body(image on the flag for reference) for instance. His insight was, don’t apply armor where the returning planes are mainly damaged, as the planes can obviously survive that damage, instead apply the armor where the surviving planes were less damaged, like the engines.

This is called the survivorship bias, basing information on only those who are here and healthy doesn’t mean the current system works: we’re ignoring the result from those that the system completely failed, because the others didn’t survive.

To extrapolate on the lesson inherent in the meme, there are wounds you can survive and those you can’t. Once you identify the ones you can’t survive, you add armor to protect yourself (and others) from future formerly-deadly wounds.

There are so many systemic things we can correct (and we will!), but what, as in the case of this plane, are the personal pieces of armor we can forge? What pieces of armor can we help others forge for themselves?

An obvious one is a support network of friends and hopefully family. I’m a cis dude who was touched by the image and would like to be a better ally.

Remember to install the armour plates not where the bullet holes are but where they are not.