Dear Editor:

The subtitle to the front-page, huge font, under-the-banner headline, "Titanic story for the ages" (Saturday, April 14) is an outrageous hyperbole:"April 12, 1912, left an imprint on the human psyche like no other single event in history"Really? Of course it was sad when the great ship, carrying 2,223 people aboard, went down and more than 1,500 men, women and children lost their lives it was tragic.It was also outrageous that the corporation that built and operated the Titanic had chosen to save money by not outfitting the ship with enough lifeboats to accomodate all the passengers and crew.But come on, now let's have a little perspective. How does the sinking of the Titanic compare to for a few examples the slaughter of indigenous Americans by the European invaders, the millions of lives lost during the Irish potato famine or in the Civil War, world wars I and II, the Holocaust, our government's imperial wars in Korea, Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan …? Or in the ever-more-frequent natural disasters all over the world?Since "civilization" began, humankind has suffered countless disasters of our own making.Will we ever learn?Shireen I. ParsonsSummit Hill