I Tripped

The actions of Captain Francesco Schettino following the sinking of the Costa Concordia are one of the worst examples of not doing the right thing. The entire incident  was caused by the failure to act responsibly.

Schettino has been criticized for abandoning ship. Even after being ordered to return to the ship by the Italian Coast Guard. In a conversation with the Coast Guard Schettino is asked why he left the ship. He repeatedly claims I didn’t leave it was sinking. Now the cowardly captain claims that he tripped landing in a life boat and couldn’t get back on his ship. Seriously, who does he except will believe that lame excuse.

It appears that the reason the Costa Concordia capsized was because it was too close to land.  Schettino has admitted that he was too close to land because the wanted to salute a friend. That’s right he was showboating for a friend.  He made a willful decision to show off his multimillion dollar ride risking the lives of unsuspecting passengers and crew. Oh, you may be wondering what the captain was doing when the ship hit rocks, he was eating dinner in the dining hall.

So, Schettino is taking partial responsibility for the Concordia being in a dangerous situation. However, he fails to acknowledge his inability to act responsibility. Personally, I think house arrest is too easy Schettino. I think a more fitting sanction would be to require Schettino to be involved with the cleanup of the disaster. He should be assigned the dirtiest and worst possible cleanup tasks. Further he should have to look the families of those who were lost in the eye. Just maybe being faced with the results of his actions even a selfish whimp like Schettino might learn to do the right thing.