Showboating

On January 13^th, 2012, the Costa Concordia ran aground. Nearly a hundred years after the famous Titanic disaster, it was inconceivable that a modern-day luxury cruise ship could have a major disaster. With today's computerized navigating technologies, real time alerts, and superior engineering, what could possibly go wrong? The same thing that really led to disaster in 1912 – human error.

The Titanic was sunk, not just because of an iceberg, but because an order was issued by the owners of the ship to try for the fastest Atlantic crossing, a title which the Germans currently held. So, the ship's captain selected a shorter and more dangerous route, since everyone believed it impossible for the Titanic to sink.

Fast forward to last week when the Costa Concordia sank thanks to a practice known as showboating. Showboating means that the captain takes the ship off course go closer to shore than allowed in order to impress passengers and islanders alike. Capt. Francesco Schettino had apparently performed this same maneuver off the coast of Giglio a year ago without incident and felt confident to try it again, unfortunately for the passengers his confidence was misplaced.

So, what do these two examples of modern nautical history have to do with anything? A lot. It's not just nautical showboating that causes disasters.

Often people feel the need to "showboat" in their personal lives. For example, some of us are economic showboaters, purchasing more than we need or more than we can comfortably afford in order to show off. However, all it takes is one iceberg in the form of an economic downturn to turn our harmless showboating into a real disaster. Others showboat by trying to show how much more religious they are than others by taking on stringencies in dress or behavior not out of piety but out of competitiveness. This sort of showboating may wind up in disaster as it can turn kids off religion, when they see Judaism as a game of one-upmanship rather than a deep spiritual connection to Hashem.

The Talmud (Babylonian Talmud, Maakos 24a) states that the prophet Micah (6:8) reduced the Torah to three major principles: "What does the Lord require of you: only to do justice, to love acts of kindness, and to walk discreetly before your God." The Talmud says that 'walking discreetly' before God refers to funerals and weddings; "If in matters that are generally not done in private the Torah says that one should 'walk discreetly,' how much more so in matters that usually call for modesty should certainly be done so."

The Chofetz Chaim (Kuntros Sefat Tamim 5) states:

Our sages, blessed are they, have stated that: 'Who is wise man? One who sees the consequences of his actions.' Therefore, a person, even if he is in a strong situation, must always understand that because of the turbulence of our times, which is prevalent because of our many sins, one should behave when it comes to personal expenditures in the middle way, according to the individual and place. And even if God has been kind to him and given him great wealth, he should not wear very expensive embroidered clothing since that will damage his soul because it brings a person to arrogance and also incites the Evil Inclination. In addition, it causes others, who do not have the means to look at him and desire to emulate him. In the end, they will borrow and not repay their loans or rob and cheat. And because of these extravagances, the expenses in our times for clothing for weddings have increased so that many of our daughters are humiliated when it comes time for them to get married. Fathers and mothers cry and wail and no one can help them.

So, before we decide to showboat we need to think of any innocent passengers we might be endangering in the process.