At this moment 100 years ago the passengers of the Titanic were enjoying their deserts after a lavish meal. Perhaps some of the gentlemen were in their smoking jackets enjoying a snifter of Brandy and a Cuban cigar, while the ladies may have been gossiping and meeting at several impromptu tea socials or laughing gayly over cocktails. Meanwhile the ballroom was adorned with handsome young men and young ladies hoping to have their dance cards filled. As the band played waltzes to the admiration of the ballroom patrons, men and women dressed in their very best paraded up and down the grand stairway, the masterpiece of the White Line's prize ship the RMS Titanic. While the upper class enjoyed their luxury and the lower class rode in the bowels of the ship dreaming of a new hope in a far-off land of opportunity, high above the decks two young men sat in a small radio room adjacent the main bridge of the ship frantically sending and receiving special messages for the passengers via Morse code on the then new Marconi wireless set. Warnings of ice bergs were ignored in favor of their patrons excitement at this new-found marvel of radio. The radio men pushed on, not knowing their fate, the captain pushed his mighty ship and her crew intent on beating a DEADline. The laughter, gaiety, sheer opulence and hidden desperation of a new life on-board this great ship could never have prepared her passengers for what was to befall them all.

As a tribute to the 1,514 people who died in the frigid waters of the Atlantic 100 years ago, I ask that you sit, close your eyes and listen to the following small montage and think about what it must have been like, how fate can suddenly take a turn and forever change lives and indeed an entire world.

Stefano Landi