This is the time of year that some people commemorate the sinking of the Titanic. There's so much about the story of it that I think encapsulates some things about British (and American) culture/society - the division between the opulent wealth of the first-class passengers and the folks in steerage, the absolute arrogance of claiming a ship to be "unsinkable," the failures that led up to the catastrophic failure...
and yet, there are also stories that show the better side of us. The apocryphal story of the ship's band playing bravely on (some say it was "Nearer My God to Thee," which I'd like to believe was the song, but it most likely was not, even if the band DID play).
And then there's the story of the Carpathia. There's a well-known-to-denizens-of-some-areas-of-the-internet tumblr post, and I am linking it here, because I do like it. I'm not sure how much of it is a bit of historical embroidery, but I think the fundamentals of the story are true: the captain, not knowing what else to do, scrambled his staff (and when the passengers woke up to the noise and found out, apparently most of them joined in the effort) to prepare hot beverages, and make things as ready as possible to take on survivors, and then - and to use a slightly crude phrase, but I think it fits here - absolutely hauled ass to the coordinates he received.
He probably knew it was likely to be somewhat futile. The Carpathia was too far from the Titanic to get to her before she sank. But he tried anyway.
That's what gets me. That's why I'm sitting here on a perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon messy-crying as I think about it: he figured it was likely futile but he tried anyway.
And with the risks he took to divert what power he could, by the stokers and firemen working as hard as they possibly could, they got there.
Oh, not soon enough to help during the sinking of the Titanic. But they got there after. And started taking the people in lifeboats on board - a bit more than 700 people of the 2200 people who had been on the Titanic were brought on board. I think they were the ONLY survivors? So the Carpathia, far from failing, probably prevented things from being worse.
The other thing that gets me, that I'll just briefly mention - I seem to remember there was another, closer ship, that did not respond for some reason.
The Carpathia couldn't do a lot at first, they were too far - but they were the ones that showed up and did what they could. They couldn't save everyone, and they only saved people who were already in lifeboats. but they did something. They did what they could.
I'm going to quote what one of the posters over there said, because they say what I feel about it, perhaps better and more concisely than I could:
"I need to emphasize that Carpathia failed.
A lot of the tags and comments have a tinge of...despair, or guilt, or wistfulness about things like this happening so rarely. Or inadequacy, or just being overwhelmed or unhappy about not being in a position to step up in a comparable way. And I want to gently bring up the fact that this is still the sinking of the Titanic.
They did not get there in time. They did not save the ship. It can be argued that they may not even have saved a single life; we have no way of knowing. This was still a horrific maritime disaster mired in arrogance and incompetence and a lack of care.
If the response to this story shows anything, it shows this: It matters that they tried.
...
You don’t have to fix the world. You’ll likely be cold and sick and miserable and testy and scared, and unprepared, and in over your head, and entirely too small to be of any real use. It feels stupid, passing out blankets and coffee in the middle of an ice field knowing what just happened. It’s hard to feel anything but useless when all you can do is tap a wireless transmitter and promise help that you know will come too late...."
It matters that they tried. And that they cared enough to try.
And I think about this past semester, and my struggles to teach a class I'd never taught before. And I think about the past three years and doing what I could do to keep myself safe, and my students and colleagues, and the people I go to church with. To keep on keepin' on, even though things are hard and it does often feel like the cards are stacked against you.
I hope the captain of the Carpathia realized after he brought the passengers to New York City what a hero he was. What a hero everyone on that ship who helped out was. I think for a lot of people who are fundamentally people with a sense of responsibility and who, yes, think about the question "what do we owe to each other" and who try to go out into the world and make things better often wind up doubting themselves, feeling like they're too small or not enough or that the bad in the world is so great that none of the good they can do matters. I need to be reminded of that all the time, that even the very small good I can do ultimately matters somehow, even as I am getting down about the liars and the dirty dirty cheats in this world.
But then again - I know a lot of people who have read this passage and talk about how it makes their heart crack and makes them cry and yes, I cry at it too. Because it resonates. And the fact that it resonates with so many people means there are a lot of us out here, who are still trying, that still care enough to try, even if we may fail in what we originally intend to do...
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