Do we have to wait for the mov

Do we have to wait for the movie to come out before we cry?

The slight possibility that one of them might look like Leonardo Di Caprio when he’s had a bath is simply not a good enough reason to fish him out of the water. Or is it?

Do we have to wait for the mov

The World’s refugee and migrant crisis will go down in history as one of the Human Race’s lowest moments.

Like the Holocaust is remembered in abhorrence of what we, as humans are truly capable of, so the refugees of 2015 will go down in history as another moment where our humanity simply failed.

As the total number of displaced persons ticks over the 60 million mark, hundreds and thousands of refugees are dying daily. Some in the Mediterranean, some in refugee camps, some in the back of trucks and the rest in a myriad of other ways, all equally horrific, all equally avoidable, all equally shameful.

I find myself thinking more and more of James Cameron’s 1997 movie, Titanic.

Those who saw the movie (Who hasn’t?) couldn’t help but be disgusted by the behavior of the first class passengers. The class of a person, the amount of money and social standing they had in life was the difference between life and death on Titanic.

If one were of the right social standing one was allowed onto a lifeboat. Since there were not enough lifeboats to save all the passengers, the staff and passengers on the Titanic faced some tough choices, much like we face today.

If they allowed more than the recommended number of persons onto each lifeboat they still wouldn’t have been able to save everyone on board, but they would certainly have been able to save many many lives. The challenge this presented was that it would mean the first class passengers had to share a lifeboat with those from the lower levels not only of the ship, but also of the world’s social hierarchies.

What to do? What to do?

It is excruciating to watch the movie’s final scenes.

Lifeboats with so few people in them float through a sea of people in the process of drowning. They float past people in the water, alive, begging for help. Mothers lift babies to the passing boats but are left to die.

The survivors actually use the oars of their lifeboats to push back some feisty poor people who actually try to cling to the boats. A quick rap on the knuckles and they are forced to let go, improving the view from the lifeboat immediately.

Thankfully it doesn’t take too long for the poorer people from the lower classes to die.

It is much quieter then. It’s actually quite a beautiful moment in the movie.

After a harrowing escape and an awful racket while three quarters of the passengers thrashed about furiously, the few survivors, comfortably seated in their lifeboats could finally relax while they waited for the Carpathia to arrive.

In James Cameron’s Hollywood version, the 17-year-old first-class passenger Rose De Witt Bukater who has fallen in love with Jack Dawson is so disgusted by what she’s witnessed that she changes her name to Rose Dawson. In so doing, she loses her vast inheritance and her social standing in one quick utterance.

She does keep the huge blue diamond necklace though. Only to throw it overboard the first chance she gets.

The last trace of wealth from the Titanic disappears under the waves.

It brought Rose nothing but regret apparently. As breathtakingly beautiful as it was, she couldn’t enjoy it without remember the 1516 people who were left to drown and freeze to death for nothing more than an outdated class system.

And roll credits and Celine Dion.

Most of us by that stage have gone through a box of tissues and have red swollen eyes.

It takes one a moment to recover from the movie. It’s so heartbreakingly beautiful and desperately sad. The love between Jack and Rose that transcended class {gasp}, only to be crushed too soon. He gave up his own life for hers when he gave her his spot on the flotsam. She never forgets him, vowing to honour his legacy in the life she lives.

He’s an interesting character for the times. Even though he was poor and unworthy he displayed characteristics of a gentleman. It’s a conundrum.

Could poor people actually be just as good as rich ones?

OMG. Could poor people actually be worth shuffling over a few centimeters on the lifeboat to make room for?

No. Surely not.

Not people who are different to us?

Surely not NON Europeans?

Surely not people without a penny to their name?

I mean, why bother saving them? They have no money and no social standing. They have nothing to contribute. The slight possibility that one of them might look like Leonardo Di Caprio when he’s had a bath is simply not a good enough reason to fish him out of the water.

Or is it?

You’d better think quickly because the ship is sinking fast.

And we had all better hope that when the Carpathia arrives for us one day it is more generous than we have been. You can be sure that one day soon, when we look at our own stunning blue diamond necklace, it will make us sick to our stomachs.

 

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