How Long Can You Hold Your Breath

 I wasn't surprised to find that there are a great many phobias associated with being trapped underwater. The story of the OceanGate submersible seems to have captured a nation's interest because of all these linked fears. Since I was very young, I have harbored a morbid fantasy of diving into a pool, only to find that when I try and break the surface, a sheet of glass has been placed at the waterline, keeping me from getting that lung full of air that I so desperately need. This covered pool scenario probably came from a bad horror movie that I watched when I was young and impressionable, but it hasn't kept me from having it. Or from jumping into the occasional pool. 

Still, that correct wariness of being out of one's element, as an air-breather, is one that most of us maintain because it is a matter of survival. Try as he might, my older brother used to try and condition my younger brother and I out of our panic over enclosed spaces by giving us plenty of exposure to such things. Being sandwiched between two bean bag chairs with my older brother sitting on top, reminding me not to use up my oxygen by yelling did allow me to surrender a bit of my claustrophobia. Kudos to him for that. Don't struggle, it will only make things worse. Then it was my turn to teach this lesson to my younger brother. 

Even so, there's something about submarines that just don't sit right with me. Any enterprise that includes a waiver that mentions death three times doesn't sit right with me. Any enterprise that dangles "catastrophic failure" as a possible outcome doesn't sit right with me. Then there's the very simple matter of revisiting the scene of another famous disaster. More than fifteen hundred people the first time the Titanic stopped being afloat. It seems like an unreasonable amount of hubris involved in taking tourist expeditions to one of the most famous seagoing catastrophes. A little like taking a dirigible across the ocean to recreate the last flight of the Hindenburg. What could go wrong? 

Well, in the case of the undersea voyages of the rich and famous, we have our answer: the aforementioned catastrophic failure. All of which makes me glad for my older brother's careful ministrations, but I will continue to make sure that the pool cover is put away before I jump in.