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The loss of the submersible Titan on June 18th got me to wondering a few things after all hopes that the five occupants would be rescued were dashed.
The first was the expense that three people went to, $250,000 each, to go on such a high stakes adventure, a thrill trip for the rich.
The Titanic’s loss in 1912 captured attention because of the vanity of its builders, the White Star Line, who boasted that the Titanic was an unsinkable vessel.
That vanity is there in the very name it was christened!
I wondered at the mindset of the individuals on Titan who were willing to spend that sum of money to be able to spend a shared, cramped five hours viewing the wreck of the Titanic through a 21-inch diameter porthole. The same view was available on a larger flat screen television in the comfort and safety of one’s home. Was this for the intoxication of an in-person experience at the wreckage of that disaster?
It certainly offered a trip that would be hard to outdo.
For the extremely rich, is no expenditure too much in seeking personal pleasure?
The cost of a water well in a poverty strapped village in Africa is around $8,000 on average. A quarter of a million dollars could have brought 31 wells to 31 villages.
On reflection, could such an act of self-gratification as a dangerous nine-hour trip to over two miles under the ocean equal the satisfaction of bringing water to thousands of people for generations? Wouldn’t that be an accomplishment to savor for a lifetime?
On television I see at least four charitable organizations, St. Jude’s Hospital, the A.S.P.C.A., Wounded Warriors, and Shriners Hospitals, asking for a pledge of $19 a month. A quarter of a million dollars would be able to pledge that amount a month to all four for over 274 years!
I believe that legacy would far outlive the fame of a nine-hour trip to see the wreck of a memorial to someone else’s pomposity.
There is something numbing at the detachment of the megarich from the reality of the struggles of so many people.
However, in a democracy we are allowed to spend our resources in any manner we wish that does not conflict with the law. We all have our own selfish indulgences that deflects our money from altruistic endeavors. The treat of a candy bar or the purchase of an expensive car might go to satisfying just ourself, but it’s not unacceptable.
I thought more of the expense of the rescue attempt for the Titan’s passengers. The Washington Past reported that our government spent at least $1.6 million on the attempt, $320,000 per the five lives imperiled. France and Canada also spent resources on the attempt.
More money will be spent on the recovery and investigation of the loss of Titan.
Additionally, there is always the individual risk and personal expense that every person aiding the search took.
I’m not suggesting that these countries and people shouldn’t have rushed to attempt the rescue of the five individuals. When human life is at risk, no expense should be spared. But unless their estates foot the bill, it will be paid in part by our government and/or insurance companies, which means it will all filter down to us.
I don’t object to that either. I doubt there were many people who felt like abandoning these five people to die a slow, suffocating death based on who was going to pay for the effort.
As a society we don’t drag our feet to save the accident victim who drunkenly caused the wreck. We rush, no cost considered, to save the drug addict suffering from an overdose.
We don’t measure the expense of saving someone whose life has been endangered during an activity we’d never undertake.
We don’t even ask the amount it’ll cost beforehand.
We also go to great lengths to ensure the safety of the public for activities that not all share.
At least for the activities of society’s more affluent.
What I do struggle with is that so many people in our country object to our government going to the aid of people who aren’t so affluent, the people who are trapped in the slow, suffocating grips of poverty.
One example is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, commonly known as food stamps. In Virginia, eligibility for a single individual is a gross monthly income of no more than $1,579.50. That single person will receive $281 a month. A family of three $740. A benefit for an economic status no individual would choose to live on.
That’s a far cry from the $320,000 dollars for the attempted rescue of an individual from a situation of their own choosing.
How much would it cost to rescue a girl or a boy from the poverty that will keep them and their children stuck in the lowest caste of American society?
Should we even be asking? Socialism? No, I haven’t been reading any Karl Marx.
My education started in a Presbyterian Sunday school.
