Titanic Panic

The Titanic was truly a god among ships, the ultimate vessel ever crafted by the hands of man at it's time. If I were aboard this ship, the unsinkable titan of the ocean, I would never have had the premonition of such an exhilarating experience to be the deliverer of my terminus. I would probably have been a wealthy, upper class citizen caught in the web of sophistication and conceited entertainment that life has to offer for those few lucky people. But, on the date of April 15, 1912, there was not a soul above or below deck concerned with drinking champagne or indulging themselves in the glory of a thick wallet. They were all human at that time, helpless and hopeless as they frantically raced to ensure their own safety, trapped within their own pandemonium because an authority had refused to inform them of their danger. The captain of the ship had known of the icebergs yet ignored them and continued his pace. Eventually, everybody found themselves competing to secure a position in a lifeboat, even the ship officers whose duty was to maintain order. But I do not blame them. In such a situation, all sense of consciousness is lost to the primitive instinct to survive. There was only the will to escape and to distance themselves from that immense distress as much as possible. I could not convict the survivors of this tragedy for living, for if I had been in their position I would likely have acted as they did, as anyone would have, I believe.

Pity

When a man is stripped of all his lifelong liberties to the point of bare humanity, I believe that emotions such as pity are inevitably evoked by the condition of this person, no matter who they may be. This SS soldier in the hospital sought the pity of a Jewish man whose heritage he had unknowingly damaged, "but had he any right to pity?" No matter if he deserves it or not, most people would find sympathy for the soldier. Since he has proclaimed that his acts were carried out in ignorance and he sincerely repents for his atrocities, it is my personal opinion that the soldier deserves at least pity for the agony that he experiences, regardless of the suffering he had caused.