I have come to the table concerning the submersible which imploded killing all five passengers last month because some of the stories surrounding it were too heart-rending to believe. But here we are, four billionaires and the son of one perished in the sub which was eerily named The Titan after the largest sea vessel to sink at its time The Titanic whose wreckage drove all five to their death.
The sighting of the titanic wreckage was the promise of the submersible which each passenger paid a quarter of a million dollars to board. CEO of Oceangate, owners of the Titan, Mr Stockton Rush had convinced quite a number of billionaires to go down in his submersible which many believe could have been better built, to view the wreckage of the ill-fated luxury ship which sank in 1912 killing over half of its over 2,000 passengers. The Titan had conducted 13 dives to the Titan wreckage most of them pretty shaky and a few aborted while the successful dives have been far and few between. Information is unclear about how many successful dives they have had.
In the end, the allure of more than a century old wreckage claimed the lives of the last set of passengers which included Suleman, a nineteen year old who wanted to bond with his father and joined him for the dive on father’s day. Many men would tell you that their fathers have a strong hold on them when they were growing up. Their hero, their macho dads who provided for the family, seemed so strong and seemed unafraid no matter the dangers they faced.
The symbolic death of father and son redirects our thoughts to the relationship between fathers and sons. What do you need your son to do before he proves to you that he is a man?
Many young men have bitter sweet relationships with their fathers. They want to please their dads, be successful, stand strong, try to be unafraid even if your teeth is chattering in fear. Over the years we know most boys ever want is for their fathers to be proud of them.
But I have heard from many young men how no what they did matter, they never seemed to measure up to their fathers, it was never enough. I have often wondered in my quiet time what Suleman said to his father; ‘you are going to be proud of me Dad, I am coming with you’.
His mother said he chose to go in her place. He even took a rubix cube with plans to set a Guinness world record. But it all ended tragically. I have also wondered what his Dad said to him when it seemed like things were going South. Son, I am sorry I brought you into this. What they talked about is anyone’s guess.
The thoughts, the pain, the reassurances, the fear, the end. The symbolic death of father and son redirects our thoughts to the relationship between fathers and sons. What do you need your son to do before he proves to you that he is a man? How have we socialised our boys? What do they need to do to prove to their Fathers that they are now men? Unspoken words that can lead to pain. We need new ways to man them up.
Rochridge, a former staff of Oceangate has been in the news lately, describing the submersible as a disaster waiting to happen. After much warning that the Titan did not meet industry standards, he was eventually sacked and sued and he also countersued. It would seem in all of this, several regulatory bodies went to sleep.
But interestingly, there are several stories surrounding the Titanic sinking that portend bad omen from the very beginning even before it set sail in 1912. There was the fact that the Ship’s captain had been in many shipping accidents and felt jinxed and the fact that some crew members decided they would not travel with him and came off the Titanic because of the Captain’s track record.
Then there was a newspaper editor who consulted a Seer and the Seer predicted the sinking of the ship and urged him not to go. The Editor went anyway and perished with the Titanic. So many bizarre tales including but not limited to a cat on board who had just had litters. She was said to have taken out all her kittens from the ship a day before it set sail and chose not to be on it.
There were so many stories of passengers foreboding before it sank on the day killing all but 700 of her over 2,000 passengers. These omens have continued to surround the Titanic but it has not stopped adventurers from going to sight the wreckage discovered 73 years after it sank.
While the world searched for the Submersible and the media went into a frenzy, many analysts began to speak up about the tragedy of over 700 migrants off the coast of Greece who were left to perish with information coming through that very little was done to save their lives. This happened weeks before the Titan went missing. But the world watched as five persons got the frenzied attention that 700 migrants did not get.
Read also: Here are 3 businessmen who died tracking Titanic
All deaths diminish us but global inequalities continue to persist. It would seem some lives are more important than others. And former United States President Barrack Obama weighed in.
“Governments pulled out all the stops to try to save the five mainly wealthy people exploring the Titanic ruins, but when it came to hundreds of migrants packed into an obviously precarious boat, the Greek Coast Guard made only token efforts to help before it sank, —–That was not accidental.” Who would save the world from what Obama describes as “obscene inequalities?”
And so we mourn with the families and nations of the nameless 700 migrants off the coast of Greece and commiserate with the five passengers on the submersible. Henri Nargeolet, French explorer, Hampshire Harding, British businessman, Stockton Rush, CEO Oceangate, Pakistani Businessman, Shazada Dawood and his 19 year old son Suleiman. Needless deaths get me. Leaves me speechless. In fact any death at all.
One man’s death diminishes us all.
