I Have...No Words.

No chapter update. It's been hard to stay focused on the book. So...let me address it.

This comes from a place of hearing about this during my work shift today. I literally stopped everything I was doing when I heard what had happened, because I have been following it this past weekend. And I'm not qualified to tell you how you should feel, but allow me to lament how I feel for a second, if you will...

There aren't any two words that can describe how I feel hearing what became of the 5 people that were visiting the RMS Titanic. Their submarine suffered an...implosion.

Backstory. I always loved learning about the Titanic. Hell, one of my first books I read was about the Titanic...its an interesting tale. It was fun to learn about, but also, it made me stop and appreciate it. The fact that we have photo evidence of it on the sea floor, and that we have researchers exploring it. That kind of stuff was fun to look at and learn about. The images may have terrified little kid me of the ocean, but as I grew older, it made me appreciate those who risked their lives to find and document a historical memorial.

And that's what it should remain as: a memorial. A piece of history that serves as the symbol of a tragedy. A tragedy that took the lives of over 1,500 passengers, and the survivors who lived would carry that experience with them until their deaths.

I can't even imagine what person in their right mind would think, "You know what? We should commercially advertise to people, encouraging them to visit this memorial grave. All for the low, low price of $250,000, you two can experience what those people experienced when the ship went down." It's like signing your death certificate...and then being bolted in so you have no chance to escape. There is no escape. There was no escape...

And, to be honest, if you're going to commercially advertise this, you have to do several things. SAFETY should be a priority! Preparing the individuals for the voyage and deepsea exploration is obvious, you can't walk into it blind. It's like skydiving, but you aren't falling out of the sky. Gravity aint your friend in either situation, but at least you have control over your life when falling out of a plane with a parachute on. There should be a vastly superior piloting system, let alone, someone who knows how to pilot the submarine. And did I already mention it? Maybe I forgor.

SAFETY REGULATIONS!!

But...it doesn't matter. Maybe this event can serve as a reminder to people about our species: we haven't conquered anything when it comes to the ocean. And I get genuinely upset when people tell me we know so much about it, that we explored the Marianas Trench and this and tha-stop. It just...just frustrates me.

And it goes back to that idea: A submarine imploded. I've heard of implosions before, the Byford-Dolphin accident being the most memorable of them. For how horrific it was to those who died, that idea stuck. Going back to the 5 people aboard that submarine, I don't know how to feel knowing their lives ended as soon as they were exposed to the pressure. They didn't have a second, not a split-second, not even a damn nano-second! Their minds couldn't register it. They weren't able to register it...

It happened...

I've been terrified of the ocean before. But that?.....

Nothing.