Observations From the Spectrum

Who we hire to sail the ship is as important as who we hire to build it. I think sometimes we forget that the designer and the captain are forever connected. The same rings true for America, Biden and Trump.

The Horizon and the Fall

In real time I am watching the collapse of my country of origin, America.  Many have mused and predicted the fall of America would happen soon and in the fashion of the fall of the Roman Empire.  I see it more like the sinking of the Titanic.  

The Titanic was hailed as the unsinkable ship.  We all know how that turned out.  Bloop. It sunk on its maiden voyage when it hit an iceberg rupturing the hull and sending it down into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.  This is when we should have learned the superlative lesson.  

My advice, whenever someone uses a superlative like unsinkable or impossible, apply worst-case scenario outcomes and take with a grain of salt.  Humans boast.  It’s our nature.  Sometimes those boasts lead to demise.

Today, demise and chaos is quite clearly the modern day American trajectory, and in many ways it is our fault.  We have allowed the foundation to be washed away by the floods and the children playing in the sand.

We click and scroll, but not many read, think and try to connect the dots to uncover the real truth.  All ships can sink.  All nations can fail.  

She is a beautiful homeland with much to see

So here we are.  We are on this beautiful ship together.  As we all boarded the ship, the Captain met us at the top of the gangway.  Half of the passengers found the Captain to be witty, charming and funny.  A quarter were happy to be on board with any Captain, and there were some who immediately looked at their companions in fear knowing that he would be the Captain of the ship for their voyage.

The Captain in this story is Trump.  He applied for the job and with or without some rigging, was hired to sit at the helm.  

But this was no normal ship.  This was the unsinkable Titanic.  The ship to best all ships.  All of the ship builders were offered passage as well as the designer, a man with forty years experience building grand ships.

The Titanic set sail. Normal festivities were underway. The first class and elite passengers dined under chandeliers on exquisite delicacies of the day.  The middle class enjoyed their buffets, sun decks and facilities.  While the poor, hope and change filled third class passengers were crammed tight in small rooms happy to be on their way to something new and better. 

The Designer at dinner boasted of the ship’s indestructibility, while the Captain listened in splendor.  His job was perfect.  Sail from A to B, and go down in the books as the Captain who sailed the unsinkable Titanic across the sea. 

The party continued for sometime until reality hit.  The first mate informed the captain that the Titanic was about to hit an iceberg.  The Captain yelled, “Full rutter to starboard,” imagining that the ship would turn sharply out of the way of the iceberg like a driver turning hard on the steering wheel to avoid a deer in the street.

The Titanic hit, sunk and many died much like our national response to Covid.  The Captain was steering a ship that couldn’t get out of its own way.  The design was flawed.  The screw was too small to maneuver the ship quickly.  The iceberg on the horizon became the iceberg tipping the hull which in turn sunk the ship.

Who is to blame?

The Captain was at fault.  He should have never left the harbor in a ship destined to sink.  It was broken before it sailed.  It was only going to get from A to B if the seas were calm.  

Trump is at fault for sinking the ship and any Covid death he is directly responsible for.  He is the captain.  

My problem is that we let the ship designer and builders off with just a slap on the wrist when they were the professionals.  They were the craftsmen who built the ship, said it was unsinkable and failed.  

That’s a lot of negligence.  That’s a lot of people who are masters in their craft not speaking up and doing the right thing.  That’s America.  Politicians and lawmakers like Biden and Pelosi and McConnell are just as much to blame for the sinking of the Titanic as the man at the helm.  

Might be best to remember that when you are trying to uncover a solution.  With them still at work, all we will have is another sinkable ship and another crappy captain. 

• All works at Observations from the Spectrum written by Dylan Netter
• Observationsfromthespectrum.org
• OFTS.blog 
• On? a third point of view – book of Essays
• Marinehippie.com podcast w/ Docstodden.com – dialogue exploring politics and musings of life 
• Horizoncoaching.org – English Tutor and Guide
• beehiveplus1.org