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Three thoughts to share with you this week.

The headline in Fridays edition of The Sun Chronicle was, Tragedy for Titan. The front page story detailed the implosion that instantly killed five people on their way to see the Titanic at the bottom of the ocean floor.

Earlier stories I read in various newspapers compared the inside of the submersible to the size of a minivan. As tragic as the implosion was, it was better than being stuffed into a soon-to-be coffin with four other people as the hours counted down until the vessel ran out of oxygen.

The lead story in newscasts on television and radio throughout the nation last week was the search for the missing submarine. Stories about the search were all placed above the fold on the front pages of newspapers, including this one.

The five people aboard the submersible included a British billionaire, the heir to one of Pakistans family fortunes and his son, a Titanic expert, and the CEO of the company running the expedition. The cost to visit the famous shipwreck was $250,000 per person. Assuming the latter two did not pay, thats a total of $750,000 the ultra-rich paid to gawk at the site where more than a thousand people perished.

While I was certainly hoping the five people aboard would be rescued, I couldnt help but think about the number of men, women and children especially those in developing countries who are themselves hours away from dying of hunger, or drown (in the Mediterranean, the English Channel or the Rio Grande) trying to get to a better life. Their survival deserves the same type of coverage, doesnt it? Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

I also thought about how much the $750,000 and the hundreds of thousands (it might be in the millions) spent on the rescue effort might have helped those children.

Pattie and I were huddled under a big golf umbrella a week ago Saturday night to take in the Providence Pride parade. The pouring rain did little to dampen the enthusiasm of the thousands of spectators lining the parade route and the equal of number of marchers in the hour-long parade.

I was happy to see that the boycotts of Bud Light and Target didnt deter other companies from participating in the annual celebration. Amazon, Bank of America, Bud Light, Fidelity Investments, Frito Lay, Kohls, Titos Vodka and T-Mobile were among the groups sponsoring floats.

While realizing any variation from a heterosexual relationship is offensive to some, I looked around at one point and wondered what harm the evening and entire celebration of Pride Month was doing to those who object to alternative lifestyles. Other than fearing and hating those who are different, I couldnt think of a reason.

Perhaps, if the people who strongly object to the LGBTQIA2+ community attended the Providence parade, theyd realize that the people they look down on make up a larger segment of the population than they realize. I believe theyd also understand that living an alternative lifestyle is not simply a matter of choice, as many claim.

I received a text from the owner of the truck mentioned in this space last week. The truck I saw in the Mullaney Twin parking lot in downtown Attleboro had a bumper sticker in the back window that read, Socialism Sucks. I questioned whether the individual would reject the benefits of Medicare and Social Security.

It turns out the owner of the truck is an 86-year-old reader of this newspaper. He contacted me this week and told me he has paid into Social Security for 75 years and Medicare for the last 26. He still pays into the governments retirement system and the income tax on the amount he receives.

He told me he is upset with Barack Obama, claiming the former president took $100 from his monthly check and gave it to someone who didnt pay into the Social Security.

The topic came up with another reader on Friday night.

I will admit that Medicare may not be an exact form of socialism, but Im standing by my comment that Social Security is. Not only is social in its name, all Americans are forced to pay into it. Sounds like socialism to me.

Link:
Peter Gay: The Titan, Pride and Socialism | Columns ... - The Sun Chronicle