Lan Jue's voice gradually became excited as it echoed in the classroom. Everyone listened attentively, no one else's voice could be heard.
"According to a later investigation, only lifeboats 6 and 2 had crew members jump in, but they were immediately discovered by the officer in charge there. They did not say anything and obeyed the order to return to the deck."
"A famous author once said, 'This is because they are born with the ideal that responsibility is more important than other considerations, that responsibility and discipline are synonymous. In the hours before the Titanic sank, this ideal of responsibility and discipline proved to be the most powerful temperament that could not be eroded.'"
"It was this sense of responsibility that made Fireman Farman Carville return to boiler room 4 to see if there were any other boilermakers trapped there when he felt he might have left a little too early. It was this sense of responsibility that made Signalman Ron keep firing flares and waving the Morse signal light from the deck, no matter how hopeless it seemed. It was this sense of responsibility that made boilermaker Hemming, who was assigned to the lifeboat oarsman, give up this opportunity to someone else and stay on deck until the last moment. It was this sense of responsibility that made telegraphers Phillips and Bridget stay in the radio room until the last minute. They did not leave even when Captain Smith told them to abandon ship. They continued to tap away at the keyboard, counting down the seconds to send messages and their last hope. It was this sense of responsibility that made Chief Engineer Bell and all the engineers work hard in the engine room, even though they knew they had no time to get on deck and lose any chance of escape. It was this sense of responsibility that made Henry Hartley, the band leader, and the other musicians play light jazz and the solemn religious hymn 'God be with us' until the sea takes their lives and songs to the bottom of the ocean …"
"All of this cannot be fully explained by the word 'brave'.
There is a saying: 'Even a hero will become a coward in a desperate situation.' But the Titanic turned countless ordinary people into heroes!
The sense of responsibility raised the value of a person, the nobility of a person, the beauty of a person. "
"This, is the spirit of nobility!
Every one of them is a noble in my heart! "
"When the survivors of the Titanic discussed who survived and who perished, because there were far more women and children than men, people thought it was the victory of the maritime rule of 'women and children first'.
However, the company that owned the Titanic told the media that there were no so-called 'rules of the sea' that required the men to make such a huge sacrifice. If they did so, it could only be said that it was a kind of care given by the strong to the weak, whether it was on land or at sea.
It was their personal choice, not something that any rules or maritime rule could require.
They held fast to the ancient but forever young human values. '
"At that time, the billionaire Asder asked the officer in charge of the Titanic if he could accompany his pregnant wife Madeleine on board. The officer said 'women and children first', and like a true gentleman, he returned to the deck and sat there quietly until the ship sank, and the ship's collapsed chimney threw him into the Atlantic Ocean.
Asder was the only billionaire on the Titanic and one of the richest people in the world. His assets were enough to build 11 Titanic ships. "
"The Titanic's Captain Smith had good personal relationships with almost all the rich people on the ship. Many of them were his good friends, including Asder.
But Asder didn't go to Captain Smith to ask for a 'back door' and let him on board.
If he had gone to the captain, he would have had a good reason to do so. His wife was five months pregnant.
But Asder didn't do so, or rather, he didn't think he should do so. It was an era without the concept of 'back door'. It was an era of gentlemen, of being a true man.
He was a true aristocrat! "
"The other rich man on the Titanic, second only to Astor, was called Straus. He and his wife were also on the ship.
The Straus couple also brought a dozen or so attendants and waiters with them, in case there weren't enough attendants on the ship, or it was inconvenient to serve them.
One can imagine the extent of their wealth and grandeur.
After the Titanic hit the iceberg, Mrs. Straus almost boarded the number eight lifeboat. But just as she was about to step on the edge, she suddenly changed her mind and came back with Mr. Straus, saying, 'We've been living together for so many years. Where you go, I go too!'
She gave her place on the lifeboat to a young maid. She also threw her fur coat to the maid, saying, 'I don't need it anymore!' "
"When it was suggested to the 67-year-old Mr. Strauss, 'I can assure you that no one will object to an old gentleman like you going into the dinghy,' Strauss replied firmly, 'I will not go into a dinghy before any other man.'
Then, holding the arm of his 63-year-old wife, Ada, the old couple staggered to the deck and sat down on the wicker chairs. Like a pair of mandarin ducks, they quietly waited for their final moments. "
"When he knew he had no chance of being rescued, the famous pipeline tycoon, Benjamin Guggenheim, put on his most Huali evening suit. He said, 'I want to die honorably, like a gentleman.'
The note he left for his wife read, 'There won't be a single woman left on the deck because I took the lifeboat position.
I will not die like an animal. I will die like a real man.
I am a noble! '"
The story came to an abrupt end. Lan Jue's eyes were already a little moist, but they were filled with a kind of fever that could infect anyone.
"I don't know if you will become a noble in the future, but today, I stand here as a lecturer at the National Eastern University. In this first lesson, I must tell you what it means to be a true noble!"
"A noble with a noble spirit is not necessarily rich, and a rich person is not necessarily a noble.
And the noble spirit is absolutely not something that can be bought with money!
If one day, you can straighten your chest and become such a noble, then I will be proud of you! "
(Part of the story about the Titanic is quoted from Danny Alan Butler's "Unsinkable")
— —
I've finally finished writing a plot that I've always wanted to write. I hope everyone likes it.
The reason why I wrote this novel is because I have something I want to pass on to everyone.
Most of the time, nobility is seen as a derogatory term, especially in a country like ours, which has always been dominated by rural literature after liberation.
But I hope to let everyone see what it means to be a true noble.
Nobility isn't about money or power. More importantly, it's about responsibility. It's a nobility that can be set off with one's life. To bravely protect the weak and protect their loved ones. Their nobility has nothing to do with money or power. It's the radiance of nobility that shines through human nature.