Shahzada and Suleman Dawood were among five who lost their lives in the OceanGate Titan sub disaster last week. The report of the incident came close on the heels of the news of capsizing in Greek waters of the vessel carrying hundreds of men desperate to make their way out of poverty to better opportunities in Europe.
The comparison of the two events was therefore inevitable. Sure enough, countless people chose to chip in with one version or the other of the rich-man, poor-man contrast. Most of these comments served little purpose beyond letting off steam.
Thankfully, the ill-fated migration hopefuls were by and large spared from victim-blaming on the social media. The Dawoods were less fortunate in this regard. They were made fun of in drawing rooms and through social media memes and comments, if not explicitly blamed for their fate. The folly of embarking on a trip so fraught with danger, especially after paying so much money for it was pointed out. A little consideration would have made it clear that it was as unfair to blame them for what befell them as it would have been to blame the poor victims of greed, incompetence and lawlessness who were so completely let down by the systems that were supposed to support and protect them. Both were compelled to make the choices they made even if the two were motivated by very different sets of circumstances. Man – rich as well as poor – is often at the mercy of his situation, whether that situation is created by his own ambitions and passions or by his poverty and deprivation.
(This is by no means an excuse to justify the social inequalities caused by the avarice and/or incompetence of governments and law enforcement agencies whose job it is to make life liveable and safe for their citizens and the public at large. Of course, in the capsizing incident their conduct left a lot to be desired. In fact, the blame goes much farther back. The very political arrangement of the world, where boundaries and visas prevent men from moving from one region of God’s earth to another, has a lot to do with it. However, these are mega realities of life that are beyond the power of mere individuals.)
As far as the ordinary individual is concerned, if there is one moral lesson to be learnt from last week, and indeed from all incidents of this nature, it is that regardless of our financial opportunities, we are all moving towards death at a brisk pace; and at any given moment the inevitable could easily be only a blink away, for all one knows. This ought to put life in a very different perspective, if one really appreciates what it means.
In hindsight it is easy to conclude that better sense should have prevailed and lives should not have been risked. Of course, neither the Dawoods nor the hundreds of aspiring migrants would have gone ahead with their plans if they knew what was in store for them. Unfortunately, hindsight is not a luxury that man possesses moving forward. Life is designed such that man must decide his course of action without that benefit.
There is a certain percentage of men (admittedly a small one) with an irresistible urge for adventure. Oft-times it ends in failure, sometimes even in tragedy; but this fact does not render risk-taking any more resistible for this breed. There is already talk of shoddy engineering work in the design of the Titan sub but that is usually par for the course in pioneering private endeavours of this sort which by definition are not governed by strict public safety codes.
When, on the other hand, the adventure goes well, there are unmistakable benefits to be had. In some cases, civilization even takes a definite leap forward. The OceanGate voyage may not have quite been in the same league but we owe it to the spirit of adventure on the part of heroic souls for everything from space exploration and the moon landing to our knowledge of the habitats and lifestyles of creatures living in extreme conditions in deserts, jungle and deep sea.
When travellers routinely and safely traverse half the earth’s circumference inside fifteen hours on board comfortable aircraft, it is because the Wright brothers had yielded to the temptation of risking their lives in pursuit of what must have appeared to others an impossible dream. Many before them, Otto Lilienthalm for example, had succumbed while pursuing the same dream; and the ‘smart’ money was on resisting the temptation.
One of the characteristics that define man is his propensity to accept impossible challenges. His tendency to try and punch above his weight is what sets him apart from all other creatures. Some men are especially so constituted as to ignore the calls of care and caution that usually deter their less courageous counterparts from embarking upon similar adventures. Call it madness or call it courage, but this spirit of adventure is a defining feature of mankind, without which humanity would not be quite what it is.
