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What will you do with your one wild and precious life?
Not subject myself to fear based on news headlines
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24 NOVEMBER 2007
I have to admit that since 9/11, and the Iraqi War, I have begun to turn a blind eye to the news. Everything seems so repetitive, morose and blasé that it sends me into a dozing coma, where my more creative mind provides me hours of seemingly valuable entertainment.
I was amazed how instantaneously the news ruled my focus when I woke up this morning as the top news story involved "150 abandon cruise ship in Antarctica".
I remember hearing my brain screech to a halt. Excuse me, but what?
The Norwegian passenger ship, M/S Explorer apparently ran into an ice flow near King George Island early yesterday morning. The ship received a 10in x 4in hole and started to fill with water over the one compartment limit. The passengers were evacuated, as the ship slowly capsized, and eventually sank into the Antarctic waters. The Explorer’s First Officer reported that the ship “got a little leakage downstairs.” Call me crazy, but in light of a catastrophe like this, I'm not sure that the phrase “a little leakage” should be so subjective. After reading through dozens of different reports on the sinking, and seeing the pictures from tourists and the Chilean government, I was picturing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet battling torrents of water aboard the Titanic.
Surprisingly, butterflies of doubt began growing in my stomach. I had been under the impression that after the Titanic tragedy, ship safety had been greatly improved and it was essentially impossible for a ship to sink. I guess the key word in my logic is “essentially”. After checking the stats of the Explorer I discovered, much to my displeasure, that the ship we were going to be traveling on was the same size as the M/S Explorer.
Oh joy . . .
In conversing with my parents, friends and family about the ship sinking, it was determined—or rather I was trying to convince myself—that sinking ships were a hundred times more rare than car crashes. Not to mention that the odds of two ships sinking in Antarctica in the same year was beyond improbable.
I hope.
I was amazed how instantaneously the news ruled my focus when I woke up this morning as the top news story involved "150 abandon cruise ship in Antarctica".
I remember hearing my brain screech to a halt. Excuse me, but what?
The Norwegian passenger ship, M/S Explorer apparently ran into an ice flow near King George Island early yesterday morning. The ship received a 10in x 4in hole and started to fill with water over the one compartment limit. The passengers were evacuated, as the ship slowly capsized, and eventually sank into the Antarctic waters. The Explorer’s First Officer reported that the ship “got a little leakage downstairs.” Call me crazy, but in light of a catastrophe like this, I'm not sure that the phrase “a little leakage” should be so subjective. After reading through dozens of different reports on the sinking, and seeing the pictures from tourists and the Chilean government, I was picturing Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet battling torrents of water aboard the Titanic.
Surprisingly, butterflies of doubt began growing in my stomach. I had been under the impression that after the Titanic tragedy, ship safety had been greatly improved and it was essentially impossible for a ship to sink. I guess the key word in my logic is “essentially”. After checking the stats of the Explorer I discovered, much to my displeasure, that the ship we were going to be traveling on was the same size as the M/S Explorer.
Oh joy . . .
In conversing with my parents, friends and family about the ship sinking, it was determined—or rather I was trying to convince myself—that sinking ships were a hundred times more rare than car crashes. Not to mention that the odds of two ships sinking in Antarctica in the same year was beyond improbable.
I hope.