2023年7月1日

History is a good teacher; it tells us stories and warns us danger ahead.  If we refuse to learn from history, we bring dooms to ourselves. OceanGate news was sad; the submarine Titan was to visit the debris of Titanic, but it went into pieces. It was reported that the vessel was not entirely safe for this ambitious journey. In April 1912, Titanic was under safety concerns when it set sailed its maiden voyage; it had 20 lifeboats which held only one-third of the passengers when needed.  In both cases, the vessels went on an adventurous journey, but met with tragic results.

 

The wreckage of Titanic was in the deep sea for more than one hundred years; it never surfaced. It took a few days to locate the debris of the Titan in the recent accident. What if a vessel brought with vicious and dangerous items or harmful and poisonous elements and it sank into the deep sea, what would become of our water environment, ocean life, and people who depend on the sea for their life? There is no way we can rectify the results when danger and poison permeate the deep sea.

 

Every now and then, we hear stories about sea monsters, weird-looking fishes, and missing boats. While they may not be all true, they present the fears human beings have toward the oceans  because of all the unknowns out there. We fear, because we do not know if it is safe or not. If we know the level of danger, we can prepare well; but if we don’t know it, there is much safety and security concern.

 

Don’t get me wrong, one should be adventurous, but we should be cautious when we go into the unknown.  We live in harmony with the nature, we love, respect, revere. We learn to understand it, proceed with care, and uphold the security and safety front.

 

Anson Yang