Lessons from the Titanic

There’s been a lot on TV regarding the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster.  I don’t want to wallow in a tragedy, but I can’t help wondering what I would have done had I been on board the Titanic that fateful day. I’m sure I’m not alone with that question.  I would have most likely been playing in the orchestra on deck, but I’m pretty sure the orchestra would have been missing a trumpet player as soon as I felt the ship begin to tilt.

Evidently experts have studied the disaster in detail and concluded that the ship tilted bow down with the stern rising from the water.  This put stress on the midsection and the ship split into two pieces; breaking like a twig. 

They said that the Titanic couldn’t sink, but it did.  When the stern hit a crucial angle where the tension maximized, the two halves of the Titanic broke apart and the great ship sank in two pieces. 

I couldn’t help but see the sinking of the Titanic as a metaphor for what we are witnessing in America right now.

Our country is divided into two parts of relatively even numbers. I’ve never seen a division of this magnitude in America in my lifetime.  Like the Titanic, the stress is on the center of the country – the middle class.  How much tension will it take for the break that could sink the good old U.S.A.? 

We deviated from our charted course years ago, but the damage has been done and the ship of state has been taking on water for longer than most of us realize. The division has greatly accelerated since the election of the great “unifier.”

I like Herman Cain.  He doesn’t mince words.  I love what he said regarding the people in the United States and the voting public.  To paraphrase, he said there are two separate populations in the country: the stupid and uninformed versus the intelligent and informed.  

The divide between Cain’s two elements is wide and getting wider and, thanks to our educational system and the media, the balance is shifting in the wrong direction. Even more ominous is the fact that the tension is increasing; moving the country toward lawlessness and violence.

 Not to be overlooked is the fact that there are fissures and fractures within this larger schism in our country.  For example, we have racial division, religious division and “micro” divisions within religion, currently being exploited for political purposes. For example, Catholics are divided over contraception. Clever ploy.  The confusion regarding sexual orientation seems to be a useful tool for division – gay rights, dykes on bikes, transgender rights, and a lobby for those who don’t know what the hell they are.  We have women’s “issues,” class warfare, border wars, the poor against the rich, special rights for left-handed pretzel twisters, and on and on. 

You’ll recall that there were classes and divisions aboard the Titanic too. When the ship went down, they all went down. Even the 1% in First Class.  Ice water doesn’t play favorites.

These many fractures in our society have been exacerbated by politicians and activists, including the “captain” of our vessel. Even our chief “law enforcement” officer has chosen sides.  “Divide and conquer” comes to mind and it seems to be working.

We see the ships sinking in European countries, but we learn nothing. Even the ass-end of England is beginning to stick out of the water.  Sharia law is causing another leak in the British ship and the politically correct pretend not to notice.  How can you not notice hoards of bipeds peeking out from under black sheets?

Abraham Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  Is it possible that our great country can split, break apart, and sink in the same way the Titanic split and sank? 

Could the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic be a harbinger of a similar fate for America? 

If we are, in fact, “One nation under God” it won’t happen. 

But are we really that nation anymore?

Just thought I’d ask…