Titanic and Titan - two tragedies, one lesson, wrote János Nagy, head of the Prime Minister's Office, in his recent Facebook post.
A close associate of Viktor Orbán highlighted an extremely interesting parallel. Namely, that in 1912, the Titanic, as an ambitious and daring enterprise, wanted to create something that no one had done before: to cross the Atlantic Ocean in record time.
"He wanted to be bigger and stronger than nature, he wanted to tame the ocean, and he couldn't show it off either. They said it was unsinkable, many arrogantly proclaimed: even God himself would not be able to destroy it. A swimming pool, Turkish bath and squash court were also available to first class passengers on the luxury ocean liner departing from Southampton. The story and its ending - like a folk tale - are well known from the 11 Oscar-winning James Cameron film, with the unforgettable performances of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio," wrote János Nagy.
"In 2023, the submersible Titan - even with its name - might have wanted to tempt God when it set off with its billionaire passengers to a depth of 3,821 meters. He called himself omnipotent, he wanted to conquer nature. Its purpose was nothing more than to see the wreck of the Titanic, but it simply collapsed 500 meters before the destination, and its passengers died instantly," the author recalled of the tragedy.
The question immediately arises: is it proper to visit a grave as a tourist? You can visit many cemeteries around the world, just think of Père-Lachaise in Paris, the Auschwitz death camp or the Fiumei út cemetery in Budapest. As long as we do all this with respectful interest, I think we are not offending anyone, János Nagy points out.
The Titan, eerily similar to the Titanic, also wanted to conquer something that was unattainable for humans. "With the ever-increasing achievements of technology, we want more and more. We want both height and depth. As in the story of the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament: man's sinful desire not to acknowledge God, to reach the heavens and to become like his creator".
We humans often tend to think that we are above everything, that we have everything in our power, and that we are even smarter than God. Yet we must know: there is a power greater than man; we can call it the force of nature or the almighty God. Humanity seems to have to repeat certain things over and over again.
The Atlantic Ocean swallowed nearly 1,500 people in the Titanic disaster, and five people in the Titan tragedy. In their memory, here is the psalm that the band supposedly played for the last time on the sinking Titanic:
"Having already left the star worlds, my weary soul also finds home. When I reach you, I fall at your feet: There I can rest forever!”
