Event : Titanic

Ninety-five years have passed since the R .M .S . Titanic sank in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic . Yet , together with Jesus Christ and the Civil War , the majestic ship remains one of the three most popular subjects in history . Images and portraits of the vessel 's virgin voyage have not paled with the passage of time . Historian Wyn Craig Wade in his book The Titanic , End of a Dream adequately described the Titanic tragedy as follows

In 1912 , 1522 people drowned or froze to death after the palatial liner in

which they were sailing was sufficiently mismanaged as to take a nose dive to the bottom of the North Atlantic

Certainly the Titanic 's death toll alone cannot compare to the thousands of deaths recorded after tsunami and earthquake disasters . And the same can be said for property damages sustained by the sinking of the Titanic . So what is it about the Titanic tragedy that sustains and generates so much interest for so long ? The simple fact is that our continuing interest is fueled by something far more complex than humanity . It was the manifestation that there is a higher power , a living God . Touted by its owners and promoters as unsinkable , the Titanic set sail as a testament to man 's scientific prowess . This kind of arrogance was self-evident . That amply explains why the ship could set sail with far too few life-boats . It could skip the customary drill procedure . She could travel at high speeds and could ignore warnings about icebergs

Emerging from this Titanic saga are countless heart-wrenching stories of man laying down his life in favor of another . Captain E .J . Smith 's mantra women and children first ' was adhered to without a whimper of protest . Many men , already seated in a life boat , destined for safety willingly abandoned his place so that another might live . There were but a few exceptions . Families were torn apart as husbands and fathers whispered final words of love and farewell to wives and children as the life boats were lifted down into the sea

First Lady , Nellie Taft , paid homage to the brave men who gave their lives that women and children might be saved ' In a national campaign she collected funds by way of one-dollar donations from American housewives to erect a monument to these sacrifices . That monument standing in Washington D .C . memorializes the Titanic heroes . Mrs . Taft is quoted as saying at the time , I am grateful to do this in gratitude to the chivalry of American manhood

There have been others who have in written accounts , portrayed the heroism on board the Titanic as a perpetuation of Marxism . In their views the upper classes were spared first and foremost . The lower classes , by and large left to perish on their own . But it is not as simple as that . The reality is , the rescue efforts were primarily aimed at saving women and children first . Statistics reveal that 44 per cent of first class...