M
Mark Robert Hopkins
Member
Okay, I DO have a little time, so I'll address it now . . .
Monica:
Actually, I noticed it prior to that point, since probably 2004, not too long after I joined. It has jumped out in several discussions.
And I didn't say it did. Such spiritual aspects do play a part in my commentary, however, as this is a part of who I am.
Let's take for example the 3C child's boots, which were recovered some time ago. We'd each have something different to say about them: Michael would possibly see just a pair of boots through a perspective of purely scientific objectivity (not that I'm saying you'd shrug off the human factor, though, Michael), whereas I see a little boy, one long-since dead, but still a little boy. These boots are all that is physically left of him; he died wearing these boots. How can I not see him when looking at them. I am not personifying the boots, but I am giving them a human face, which is what I do when assessing anything--a razor, Sloper's bowler, even a mattress. From which cabin and class did it originate? Who used it last? What were that person's dreams while sleeping in it? Of course, this even goes for non-Titanic items as well. I was born and grew up with an extremely creative mind, an imagination, and so my views will be filtered through that. Yes, I keep my feet planted firmly in the real world, but I look beyond the physical to see more. Two human beings are built primarily the same--a head, two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes--but each one has a totally different personality with a totally unique background. I can't ignore that when looking at something, anything, related to a particular person. That is who I am.
And I don't thing that taking into account the human factor is non-scientific. Irrational? Perhaps. Realistic? . . . that might be left to the relative view of the individual. What might seem real to you might not be to me and vice versa. We can, however, learn more about an item by going beyond its physical composition: Who wore the boots? From which class did he come? What was his family like? What were his dreams and ambitions in life? These questions can lead us to find a story behind the boots, just like we did with Brown's pocket watch and Eugene Daly's bagpipes. Viewing these items as just "a pair of boots" or "just a pocket watch" or "just a set of bagpipes" is extremely limiting to me because that says absolutely nothing.
As a matter of fact, my entire family has high creative and analytical intelligence. My 13-year-old daughter is on the verge of graduating high school and has been accepted to college, but that's a different story altogether. Needless to say, she and I are the same in our approach to viewing and studying such things.
Oh, I wholeheartedly agree! Titanic should not be held in exclusion from, say, the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, or the Lusy, or those WWII war planes found off the coast of China (I think that's where they're located). They should all be placed in the same light and treated with the same degree of dignity.
I think in Titanic's case all the hype over the years has put it seemingly in a spotlight all its own, whether right or wrong. This might cause people to see this particular wreck differently than any other, as if it were something above and beyond the rest. In all truth, Many tragedies since the Titanic have claimed far more victims: the Lucy, the Empress of Ireland, and, most recently, 9/11. That doesn't make the Titanic's losses less significant, though.
Perhaps not, but such remains were at one time humans with souls, families, hopes, dreams, ambitions . . . This all comes through to me when viewing a body or items related to that person. That's natural for me.
And, yes, that sounds like an interesting story. Examining the bodies is a respectful way to handle the dead before burial, which is necessary, as we need to learn as much as we can about who they were and how they died. There's nothing unsanctifying about that.
So would I! That's among the most respectful acts toward the dead that anyone can assume. That shows that others valued who I was when alive and remember me fondly. Knowing this, I could rest in peace. 
Monica:
Actually, I noticed it prior to that point, since probably 2004, not too long after I joined. It has jumped out in several discussions.
And I didn't say it did. Such spiritual aspects do play a part in my commentary, however, as this is a part of who I am.
Let's take for example the 3C child's boots, which were recovered some time ago. We'd each have something different to say about them: Michael would possibly see just a pair of boots through a perspective of purely scientific objectivity (not that I'm saying you'd shrug off the human factor, though, Michael), whereas I see a little boy, one long-since dead, but still a little boy. These boots are all that is physically left of him; he died wearing these boots. How can I not see him when looking at them. I am not personifying the boots, but I am giving them a human face, which is what I do when assessing anything--a razor, Sloper's bowler, even a mattress. From which cabin and class did it originate? Who used it last? What were that person's dreams while sleeping in it? Of course, this even goes for non-Titanic items as well. I was born and grew up with an extremely creative mind, an imagination, and so my views will be filtered through that. Yes, I keep my feet planted firmly in the real world, but I look beyond the physical to see more. Two human beings are built primarily the same--a head, two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes--but each one has a totally different personality with a totally unique background. I can't ignore that when looking at something, anything, related to a particular person. That is who I am.
And I don't thing that taking into account the human factor is non-scientific. Irrational? Perhaps. Realistic? . . . that might be left to the relative view of the individual. What might seem real to you might not be to me and vice versa. We can, however, learn more about an item by going beyond its physical composition: Who wore the boots? From which class did he come? What was his family like? What were his dreams and ambitions in life? These questions can lead us to find a story behind the boots, just like we did with Brown's pocket watch and Eugene Daly's bagpipes. Viewing these items as just "a pair of boots" or "just a pocket watch" or "just a set of bagpipes" is extremely limiting to me because that says absolutely nothing.
As a matter of fact, my entire family has high creative and analytical intelligence. My 13-year-old daughter is on the verge of graduating high school and has been accepted to college, but that's a different story altogether. Needless to say, she and I are the same in our approach to viewing and studying such things.
Oh, I wholeheartedly agree! Titanic should not be held in exclusion from, say, the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor, or the Lusy, or those WWII war planes found off the coast of China (I think that's where they're located). They should all be placed in the same light and treated with the same degree of dignity.
I think in Titanic's case all the hype over the years has put it seemingly in a spotlight all its own, whether right or wrong. This might cause people to see this particular wreck differently than any other, as if it were something above and beyond the rest. In all truth, Many tragedies since the Titanic have claimed far more victims: the Lucy, the Empress of Ireland, and, most recently, 9/11. That doesn't make the Titanic's losses less significant, though.
Perhaps not, but such remains were at one time humans with souls, families, hopes, dreams, ambitions . . . This all comes through to me when viewing a body or items related to that person. That's natural for me.
And, yes, that sounds like an interesting story. Examining the bodies is a respectful way to handle the dead before burial, which is necessary, as we need to learn as much as we can about who they were and how they died. There's nothing unsanctifying about that.
So would I! That's among the most respectful acts toward the dead that anyone can assume. That shows that others valued who I was when alive and remember me fondly. Knowing this, I could rest in peace.
