{"id":2688,"date":"2012-04-10T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-10T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html"},"modified":"2012-04-10T12:49:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T12:49:00","slug":"a-rendezvous-with-destiny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html","title":{"rendered":"A rendezvous with destiny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a>It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.\u00a0 The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its passengers and crew, had merely\u00a0four days left to live.\u00a0 As a historical event, Titanic proves that\u00a0truth is stranger than fiction.\u00a0 If it\u00a0were fiction, if it were made for a\u00a0Hollywood screenplay, I doubt\u00a0it would\u00a0be hard to find\u00a0folks willing to scoff at the melodrama and the over-the-top irony.\u00a0 And\u00a0yet, it happened.\u00a0 It was the icon of the age of optimism;\u00a0 Captain Smith, the ill fated Ismay, the band playing on (most accounts saying they played Nearer My God To Thee), Thomas Andrews standing stoically by the mantle clock, the wealth of the world, the heroism, the poor and forgotten, women and children first, why the list goes on and on.\u00a0 And it really happened.\u00a0 Those were real people.\u00a0 If anything good came of Cameron\u2019s Oscar victory for his somewhat\u00a0wide and shallow take on the disaster, it was that he did take a moment at the Oscar ceremony to remember that this really happened.<\/div>\n

I sometimes wonder if that\u2019s what made the 1997 movie such a hit.\u00a0 I admit, I didn\u2019t hate it, as hating on the Titanic<\/em> became the thing to do. It was good in parts, and many actors did a fine enough job with the material\u00a0at hand.\u00a0 But as Avatar<\/em> demonstrated, Cameron is a great director when it comes to technical matters, but rather a mile wide and an inch deep when it comes to characters, cliches, and story lines.\u00a0 But apart from DiCaprio\u2019s appeal to the\u00a0young girl\u00a0crowd, I wonder if part of the\u00a0attraction was seeing actual real life drama from a real event in a time when society and culture had become, in their own way, isolated and insulated from just what history can do to a people.<\/p>\n

Of course, one major theme of the Titanic disaster was missing from the movie, as it has been from all the coverage.\u00a0 Perhaps not unintentionally.\u00a0 The Titanic was, in\u00a0many ways, the apex of the\u00a0Age of Optimism.\u00a0 Armed with science, technology, and industry, the West had broken down\u00a0barriers with invention and discovery to bring humanity to a place not dreamed about even as recently as the signing of the\u00a0Declaration of Independence.\u00a0 There simply wasn\u2019t anything we couldn\u2019t do.\u00a0 Religion still had a place, a cultural place.\u00a0 An emotional place.\u00a0 A traditional place.\u00a0 But it was in science, invention, industry and technology in which we placed our trust.\u00a0 Ideals,\u00a0philosophies, and political movements that\u00a0mirrored this optimism did\u00a0quite well.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

This optimism would begin to unravel as the Titanic slipped into the depths of the Atlantic on that April night.\u00a0 It was finally obliterated at the end of 1918, when industry and political machinations left millions dead and rotting on the battlefields of Europe and beyond.\u00a0 Still, today, we have regained some of that blind optimism, haven\u2019t we?\u00a0 Science, technology, medical research \u2013 these are the things in which we place our trust today.\u00a0 We scoff at those who looked at the mighty hull of Titanic and imagined that humanity\u00a0had finally overcome nature.\u00a0 But are we any better?\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Some years ago, while I was ministering in Southern Indiana, I was watching NBC Today<\/em> while getting ready for work.\u00a0 This is back when Katie Couric was still on.\u00a0 The talk of the day was genetics, human cloning,\u00a0 and the\u00a0controversy over allowing scientists carte blanche<\/em> vs. standing in the way of scientific discovery.\u00a0 Ms. Couric was interviewing a medical ethicist, whose name I can no longer remember.\u00a0 He was definitely of the mindset that\u00a0the shackles must come off, and science must be given free reign.\u00a0 I had also watched several shows on PBS and the networks (we didn\u2019t have cable) suggesting the same thing.\u00a0 One was a two hour special produced by a host of scientific organizations and played on PBS reminding us that we didn\u2019t want to be like all those religious types who\u00a0let superstitions and religious fanaticism get in the way of good old scientific discovery.
<\/a>
<\/a>Anyway, the fellow being interviewed was asked\u00a0what good he thought could come if the governments of the world simply stood aside and let science discover what science could discover about genetics.\u00a0 Would such a blank check counter any potential harm from something such as human cloning?\u00a0 Not to worry, he assured Katie.\u00a0 If\u00a0science is allowed to pursue discovery without the hindrances of regulations and bans, in fifty years we will have eliminated disease as we know it.\u00a0 That morning I chuckled to myself.\u00a0 I told my wife that we could take that little boast and put it on the shelf next to that\u00a0famous line \u2018this ship will never sink.\u2019\u00a0 <\/p>\n

As we remember those lost on that most infamous of nights, and reflect on all the information we know, the stories, the tales, the myths, the legends; it might be nice if we learn the bigger lesson that so many learned the hard way almost a hundred years ago.\u00a0 It would be nice if we\u00a0used it to learn so that we don\u2019t have to wait for the inevitable hard lessons of our own arrogance today.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.\u00a0 The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its passengers and crew, had merely\u00a0four days left to live.\u00a0 As a historical event, Titanic proves that\u00a0truth is stranger than fiction.\u00a0 If it\u00a0were fiction, if it were made for a\u00a0Hollywood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA rendezvous with destiny<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.  The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A rendezvous with destiny\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.  The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-04-10T12:49:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-CnZpPwvqvSI\/T4Ritmw0YfI\/AAAAAAAAAxg\/erAHZf4ihrY\/s320\/Titanic.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html\",\"name\":\"A rendezvous with destiny\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-04-10T12:49:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-04-10T12:49:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.  The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A rendezvous with destiny\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A rendezvous with destiny","description":"It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.  The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A rendezvous with destiny","og_description":"It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.  The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2012-04-10T12:49:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-CnZpPwvqvSI\/T4Ritmw0YfI\/AAAAAAAAAxg\/erAHZf4ihrY\/s320\/Titanic.jpg"}],"author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html","name":"A rendezvous with destiny","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-04-10T12:49:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-04-10T12:49:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"It was a hundred years ago today that the most famous ocean voyage in history began.  The Titanic, the unsinkable ship, and over 1500 of its","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2012\/04\/a-rendezvous-with-destiny.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A rendezvous with destiny"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}