Why the Costa Concordia Shipwreck Is So Disturbing

Giant cruise ships—seem to stave off mortality.

But they're not invincible—and neither are we.

100 years ago going to sea inspired fear—ships were at the mercy of the weather and human frailty; they could be swallowed by terrifying storms. You had to cross the oceans to get somewhere; oceans were not destinations in and of themselves.

Not so today. We go on cruises to nowhere. The ocean is a destination and luxury mega ships are massive floating hotels where millions escape the angst of their lives. In an age of stress, the cruise industry has rebranded the unpredictable sea as an “oasis of tranquility.” Cruise ships offer a pampered atmosphere where you rock to sleep in cushy cabins and feed on demand.

Seeing the Costa Concordia, 114,000 tons and 4 football fields long, flipped dramatically on her side, causes anxiety. It’s hard to imagine it being so quickly disabled in good weather. It shows a failure of…our ability to protect people who pay lots of money to experience being stress free…

Unsinkable vessels—like the Titanic!

We’re convinced these giant vessels are unsinkable. So the sight of this giant, fatally-injured ship is a disturbing reminder, 100 years after the Titanic’s sinking, that we still can’t build ships that are totally foolproof or nature proof.

Our taste for grandeur on the sea makes these ships vulnerable. The Concordia was 3-times as heavy as the Titanic;it carried twice as many people... Modern cruise ships are tall, unwieldy, top-heavy “wedding cakes,” 12 or 14 decks high, arrogantly challenging the sea. Meanwhile, our fondness for cruising has grown... In 1980, 2 million people took cruises—today it’s 16 million. This year, 5 new Concordia-size mega-ships will be built, costing $4.6 billion. It’s unlikely this tragedy will dent this growth. The seduction of cruising is too great—especially for North Americans... But what is it? Why cruise on these resort-ships?

Costa Concordia Shipwreck—immortality is an illusion

David Foster Wallace described the cruise ship’s attraction. In every ad and promotional video, the cruise ships’ sheer glossy whiteness, gleaming in bright sunshine, without a blemish, suggests perennial youth. He viewed the obsessive maintenance of the ship’s gleaming hulls as a “triumph of …industry over the primal decay action of the sea.” Why might that appeal to the middle-aged and older cruisers, waging their own wars against decay? Is it, perhaps, its promise of immortality? But of course, the immortality—of humans and of ships—is just an illusion. Cruise ships are not invincible—and neither are we.

Edited version of Susanna Schrobsdorff ‘s piece for TIME.ideas. Jan. 19, 2012

Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2012/01/19/why-the-costa-concordia-shipwreck-is-so-disturbing/#ixzz1jvYvIQYc

Against the backdrop of human mortality, the Bible says:

“Remember…your Creator…before the evil days come and…you will say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’; before the sun,…the moon and stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,…when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and…the windows are dimmed, and the doors…are shut—when the sound of grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—they are afraid of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms…and desire fails, because man goes to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered…or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth…and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” [Ecclesiastes 12]