What We’ve Learned From Titanic

The story of Titanic has always fascinated me, as it has most of America, I think. After its tragedy we as a people quickly leaped into action demanding answers and requiring regulations from our government so catastrophes like this can’t happen again.

Here are some of the lessons we learned from Titanic and regulations we put in place:

• Have lifeboat drills
• Ensure that there are enough lifeboats for all aboard
• Always have a wireless operator on duty 24/7
• A special patrol was set up to look out for icebergs and report them
• Other safety regulations managed through SOLAS
• Man is fallible

I also think about the Triangle fire that happened a little over a hundred years ago and the lessons we learned from that.

I have to wonder about other incidents that occurred somewhat recently like Virginia Tech and the 2011 Tuscan shootings. What lessons did we learn from them? I’m sure we learned something but the problem is regulations were not put in place to prevent anything like that happening again.

That’s the great thing about what came from Titanic. All those lives were lost but because of their sacrifice, so many more have been saved.

Why can’t we always learn from our mistakes?