Oceangate: From Tragedy Perhaps a Few Silver Linings

So many times in our lives, when it comes to seeking fun and adventure, we're literally putting our lives into someone else's hands with the firm idea that what we are doing will be safe because someone has taken the time and care to ensure our safety.

We put a lot of faith into that. 

When we step onto a ride that will send us through multiple loops at incredible speeds, we're quite sure that someone has tightened all the bolts and done all the checks to ensure the coaster stays on the tracks and all the seatbelts work properly.

I am sure that's what the five passengers of the Oceangate sub that went missing, and that we eventually learned had imploded hours into its descent, thought.

As I think about what happened, as tragic as the event is, I do take at least some solace in the idea that the implosion scenario was likely far less painful for the people impacted by it than what the alternative may have been.

To slowly suffocate miles below the ocean's surface.

Nonetheless, it does appear that there were many questions long before this tragic event occurred about the safety of the experimental vessel—and a seemingly large amount of defiance about those questions from the CEO of the company, Stockton Rush, who was piloting the sub and died along with the four other passengers.

Silver lining number one is that at least their deaths may have been quick. If that's a silver lining, of course. Silver lining number two may come from what we learn about what happened and why as investigations delve deeper into what went wrong.

Beyond the lawsuits that will most certainly be forthcoming, especially if evidence points to gross negligence on the part of Oceangate, which I think it will, there will likely be more checks and balances and more oversight for any future vessels like this, as well as for any others currently operating.

Tragedy often breeds understanding and typically makes things safer. And as such, when we seek fun and adventure, we can do so more comfortably knowing that even with all the checks and balances, things may still go wrong. But we can do so with more confidence that someone actually has our safety in mind.

In the case of Oceangate, it appears to me that Stockton Rush simply wanted to do what he wanted to do, and put lives in jeopardy every time he submerged, just in the interest of that and money, and nothing else.

And for that, he and four others paid the ultimate price.

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