A Titanic weekend!

I observed Titanics 100 year anniversary of her sinking this weekend.  Traveling to Greenfield village  to first attend opening day of the finest open air museum in the country with My friends the Giorlandos, we met up with more of our historical reenacting friends and ate at the Eagle Tavern, set in the 1850s.  I had a fine meal of Trout and boiled red potatos.  The ambiance of this historical restaurant always fascinates me, I never get tired of going back in history to eat here!  
  We spent the morning touring our beloved village, and catching up with many of the tour guides that know my historical friend Ken, but many recognized me too, even if they don't know me by name, seeing their smiles on opening day made me happy, and eager to start our reenacting season soon soon.

   The next part of our day was spent seeing the Big Titanic exhibit in the Henry Ford Museum,  As Gettysburg is a sobering reminder to me of the lost people in battles, so was the Titanic exhibit, especially on this anniversary.  Going to see these artifacts reminds us that these lost souls were not characters in a movie, but real flesh and blood individuals, they touched the items we are gazing at in the very normal act of living daily lives.  They for the most part were having the most amazing wonderful adventure of their lives, and it is shocking to this day that it ended so tragically .  Even those people who lived would never, or could ever be the same again.  
  I was touched by many thing in the exhibit, A simple bowler hat, a  mans  pair of shoes and clothing, the stunning jewelry.  I came away with a profound sense of sadness.  
  For the most part it is the classic story of heroes and villains, The very definition of class separation, the wealthy and the poor.  It is a tale that warns us that God is still in charge, and arrogance will be humbled.    
    But in the last moments of the ship, while more poor people perished, many of the richest people on board choose to die, and sacrificed themselves.  And in those last terrifying minutes truly it did not matter how much money they had they were all mixed up in it together in that icy water.  
   The world changed on that day, just as it has for all disasters that we go through,  people will want moment by moment coverage, they will feel shocked, they will pick their heroes and villains, they will pray, and show concerns, then they may want to forget what is painful and move on, until the next big disaster.  That is very human of us.  
    The Titanic and all of the lessons from it should not be forgotten, and here it is 100 years later and while we are interested in particular on the 100th, it has current news value, should it be plundered? Should it remain completely untouchable?  I will leave that up to personal discussion.
   I bought a shirt, and a white star plate at the store afterward, a little piece of history to take along, that is the reenactor , historian in me. 
   The next part of our Titanic weekend was the viewing of the James Cameron movie at Kens house, some more of our friends came.  Seeing the movie directly after seeing the artifacts put an interesting twist on the movie, I love the movie, and have seen it many times, but last nights viewing was very special, and moving to me.  We followed the movie with a discussion about the movie and the days events.  
  Since it was late, I stayed over, all night i could not help but think about the timeline of the accident, and what those people had gone through.   In the morning we watched deleted scenes from the movie.  Some of these lost scenes explained a few of the things I had often wondered about in the movie.
  So after a nice breakfast, eaten on my new plate, I went home, Titanic still heavily on my mind.
    As a historian it was a perfect weekend, filled with reference, great friends, great discussions, and the perfect blend of an enjoyable day, yet devoted to all that has come before us. 
   On a personal note,  I just want to again say how grateful I am to have such wonderful, and caring friends in a sometimes imperfect world, it is great to escape to a place that is warm, thoughtful and inviting.  Thanks, and thanks for looking in, Mrs Cook.