Every Man for Himself

The recent tragedy of the Costa Concordia should come as a wake-up call to all of those naïve individuals who prance through life, looking at everything through rose-coloured glasses.

What has figured prominently in news interviews with survivors is the fact it was absolute chaos onboard the ship as it started to take on water and list towards one side. Crew members who were tasked with assisting passengers were nowhere to be found. Passengers were fighting over life jackets. Young children and old people were being trampled by passenger’s intent on getting a prized place aboard a life boat. And finally we have Captain Schettino. What a brave soul. He was one of the first people off the ship – abandoning it and his 4000 passengers and nearly 1000 member crew.

I watched an interview with a family who survived the tragedy and returned a few days ago to the US. The husband explained how he set off to find life jackets for himself, his wife and his daughter. Upon retrieving three jackets he had to fight off numerous attempts by other passengers to take the jackets away from him. In fact when he gave one life jacket to his wife, another female passenger grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. This resulted in the jacket being rendered useless as it ripped in half. So he then gave his jacket to his wife and had to set off to find another one for himself.

Watching all of these stories unfold hasn’t surprised me at all. In fact I’m more surprised by the reaction of society as a whole. Everyone seems so surprised – surprised that a Captain would abandon ship and surprised that in the face of a tragedy, human kindness would disappear, only to be replaced by an ‘Every man for himself’ mentality.

I’m convinced that I seem to exist in a parallel universe to the rest of society. Either everybody else is out to lunch or I’m the one who’s delusional! I’m still trying to figure out which is which. You see, events such as what transpired aboard the Costa Concordia don’t surprise me. They don’t surprise me because I see the world for what it really is – a place filled with people who look out for themselves.

I spoke about this in one of my earlier blogs – at the end of the day we’ll resort to the animal instinct that lies dormant within all of us – when we’re tested. That nice neighbor who you have barbeques with in the summer won’t hesitate to slit your throat in the event of a natural disaster if it means saving their family at the expense of yours. If society has broken down, law and order is non-existent, electricity and water have been shut off and all store shelves are empty – and your cupboards are full of food while your neighbour’s are empty – you better have a loaded hunting rifle handy because they will come for it!