Titanic turns 100

It was a beautiful sight outlined against the starry sky. It was impossible to think anything could go wrong with such an enormous ship. Ruth Becker, age 12, watches with disbelief as the RMS Titanic disappears beneath the cold, North Atlantic in one of histories greatest tragedies at sea. …a quote from the first book I ever read about the ship…

Today marks the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

I don’t know what it is about this story that fascinates me. Perhaps it is the arrogance of man…the notion that a ship said to be “unsinkable” sank on its maiden voyage.

Perhaps it’s the incredible incredible loss of life. Losses that could have been avoided. Stories we’ll never hear. Dreams that we’re lost. People that would have changed history if they arrived in the US but changed it drastically by their absence.

I know it definitely was James Cameron’s lengthy movie (I was excited when the iceberg finally came! So sad…)

I think it is hope deferred.

There is a part of me that when watching every documentary, reading every article old and new, with every visit to memorials, I want them to make it. I keep waiting to see the ship turn and miss that iceberg. I want those people to live, that ship to arrive, this tragic stain to be erased from histories past.

I know it sounds crazy, but I want to get to heaven and among all the amazing things we’ll see (insert Jesus and cue shouting music), I’d like to see Titanic dock at the pearly gates. (Yes, I love history and Jesus…you should know that by now…:) )

While I believe the believers on Titanic will be seen again, there also is the reality that painful moments like this shape our character more than happy ones.

Nerd spoiler…
There is an amazing episode of Star Trek: TNG when Captain Picard on his death bed is allowed to go back in time and change ONE decision he made in his youth. He did, but when he arrived back in the future, he wasn’t a captain but a Lt. Junior Grade. He learned tremendously from that decision and it altered his life.

Titanic maybe is more than just hope deferred. It fascinates me because it is apart of the tapestry of our lives, one way or another.

Few will read this post. But I am lover of Titanic’s story. If God blesses, one day I would like to visit the ship.

If not, I look forward to the day when I can meet the band that had the courage, kindness and inner resolve to play “Nearer My God to Thee,” to help the people as water poured in.

We were better people back then…