What a horrific event to experience by anyone – no one, and I mean no one, deserves this.
The disappearance, and likely death of the passengers onboard the Titan submersible vessel that was on a trip to view the wreckage of the Titanic, off the eastern coast of Newfoundland, is a true tragedy. If not matched in volume of lives to the original tragedy we all know as the sinking of the Titanic, the horror and exposure this travesty is receiving is perhaps comparable.
My heart shatters for these people on board, regardless of the fact that (at least some of them) knew that what they were doing was dangerous, or simply thought that they knew better.
Multiple warnings, that if heeded, could have prevented such an outcome (and I hope they turn up alive somewhere, perhaps already floating on the surface of the ocean). A letter from the Maritime Technology Society, warnings from its very own former director (whom OceanGate later sued), and other remarks were ignored. The company CEO supposedly declared that the Titan was “pretty much invulnerable” – making matters all the worse for these occupants if that is true, and the conditions with which they likely will have died. I don’t even want to cover those, with such immense sadness it brings to think of.
“History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.” How much truer of a statement could be made. Perhaps only, “fate loves irony”. In the ultimate irony, the TITAN, on a mission to visit the TITANIC, with its own CEO on board who declared it ‘invulnerable’ – shares the same end of the very thing it sought to view. It seems absurdly cruel and perhaps inevitable at the same time, in the strangest of juxtapositions.
If there is anything to take away from this event, it is that it suggests that indeed there is a God or God-like force, and it is not man’s place to challenge God. The unsinkable Titantic, and likewise the invulnerable Titan, show that maybe hubris is the greatest of sins against this force.
Rather, we should embrace some degree of humility, in our attempts to move about the physical realm, and seek to win its favor through mutual cooperation and understanding.
I sincerely hope that this will have a happy ending, and for those onboard, it’s memory relegated to a nightmare.
Comments