A Night To Remember & 9-11

"A Night To Remember" and "9-11"

The similarities between the sinking of the Titanic and the attack on the World Trade Center are eerie. This statement could be easily dismissed because one technological triumph was the victim of an inert iceberg while the other was the victim of Islamic terrorists. However aside from this obvious differentiation there are many confluences of circumstances that make the two events more alike than dissimilar.

Both tragedies resulted in a tremendous loss of life. The sinking of the Titanic claimed 1,503 lives while the collapse of the World Trade Towers claimed 2,990 lives.

Both tragedies had a profound impact on the same metropolitan area, New York City. In both instances the city was traumatized.

Both tragedies involved the primary mode of the day for traveling great distances: jet planes and a steam ship.

Both tragedies comprised a man made edifice built to withstand any collision. However the Titanic's double-thickness bottom and water-tight compartments did not save the ship from sinking while the World Trade Towers prefabricated steel lattice, with columns in the center to act as bracing to resist all overturning forces, did not prevent the towers from collapsing.

Both tragedies involved the "biggest" man made structures of the day. The World Trade towers when built were the two tallest buildings in the world and at time of its launch the Titanic was the biggest moving object ever built.

Both tragedies happened quickly. Much faster than anyone could have ever predicted. In fact it was difficult to imagine any incident severe enough to create these disasters. The Titanic plunged to the bottom of the ocean two hours and forty minutes after its collision while WTC Tower One collapsed one hour and ten minutes after being struck and WTC Tower Two collapsed one hour and forty minutes after being struck.

Were both tragedies the result of design flaws or arrogance of the age about humankind's technological advancements? I believe our civilization is blinded by its science. After all we've been to the Moon and split the atom. We assume that our science can solve any problem. However on days like April 14, 1912 and September 11, 2001 we are shook by the stark realization of how fallible our technology can be. When you look at the World Trade Center towers collapsing like a deck of cards you see that there are situations when our technology is to no avail. So what will happen when we burn a hole in the Earth's ozone layer though our consumption of fossil fuels and there's no way to stop that hole from expanding? We'll be just like the Titanic passengers and the New York City residents watching helplessly as our world crumbles.