Tuesday's Thoughts: Captain of the Costa Concordia

I’m sure you’ve heard about the Italian cruise ship, Costa Concordia, which ran aground near the Tuscan Island of Giglio. If not, you should check it out at MSNBC. Now, let me just warn you, this story burns me up. As these are my thoughts, they’re clearly laced with my opinion. [Consider that the disclaimer.]

How can one man, Captain Francesco Schettino, who is responsible for over 4,000 passengers and crew members, so callously abandon his ship and leave people to die? What a pompous prick. His irresponsibility cost the lives of innocent people, and he single-handedly created the “Italian Titanic”. I thought a good captain always went down with his ship – he does. Thanks for proving that the Costa Condcordia was lacking a good captain. He was on shore when he radioed for help… and, after creating a laundry list of excuses [one including the fact that it was dark] claimed that he would be going instantly to the ship. However, he, in fact, would not be going back to help preserve the lives of his crew or his passengers.

How is it that a ship that travels the same route every week manages to strike a rock and capsize? Captain Pompous Prick Schettino has been accused of traveling too close to the shore so the head waiter could see his motherland and salute the residents of Giglio. REALLY? You’re joking, right? Please, tell me this is a joke. Maybe, instead of jeopardizing innocent lives, that captain could tell his head waiter to save his paycheck and take a vacation. What a novel idea. *Ding!Ding!Ding! Johnny, tell him what he’s won!*

Instead, Captain Pompous Prick Schettino has taken at least eleven people from their loved ones and left 29 missing. Let's not forget to mention the countless scars left engrained into the memory of every passenger and crew member. Over 100 Americans were on board the Costa Concordia, and two Americans are among the missing – Jerry and Barbara Heil of Minnesota. A couple who spent their entire lives working to put four children through college and were finally able to enjoy the opportunity to travel, that is, until Captain Pompous Prick Schettino decided to act irresponsibly and take that away. How can one man jeopardize the lives of the Heils and over 4,000 others to allow someone the opportunity to “salute” residents of a Tuscan island? For the sake of their families, I pray that the missing are found, and I pray they’re found unharmed.

One news station has indicated that the only thing that prevented this from being an even more horrific disaster is the location of the ship in shallow water. So, I guess if Captain Pompous Prick Schettino was going to be irresponsible, at least he did it in shallow water…. [insert sarcasm here]

As for Captain Pompous Prick Schettino, He has a history of disobeying company policy, coast guard orders, and has been caught sailing too close to another Italian shore. [And just why, exactly, was he still employed as a ship captain if he had repeatedly put the lives of passengers in jeopardy???] He’s now being detained in an Italian prison and accused of abandoning ship and manslaughter. On top of that, every eyewitness account that’s been provided by passengers indicates that the crew were uniformed and unwilling to assist passengers. Pretty much like a “survival of the fittest”, every man for himself, save yourself, type of situation.

Carnival Cruise Lines – in the words of Ricky Ricardo – you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do……