Happy Thought for 14 November 2025

 

Have a Happy Thought: 

Just over fifty years ago, on November 10th 1975, the Fitz, The Mighty Fitz, The Big Fitz, Pride of the American Side, The Toledo Express, The Titanic of the Great Lakes, otherwise known as The SS Edmund Fitzgerald, sank on Lake Superior during an unexpectedly strong storm.

The history of the ship and story of its sinking are well worth a read.

What happened afterward is just as amazing.

For one, the sinking of such a large ship, with all 29 crew lost, left an indelible mark on the communities in and around the Great Lakes.

This tragedy was memorialised in a folk rock ballad, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", by the Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. It is a beautiful, haunting song to hear – especially knowing that the events that unfold really happened. You can search for the original recording, or and you can listen to this recent cover by a Brooklyn, NY -based bluegrass band the Punch Brothers.

The song, both its original as well as various covers, is now absolutely beloved by those who know it. While I only learned of it earlier this year, some of you reading it may already know about it. I can tell you that everyone I have heard or seen mention it, cannot recommend eagerly enough that everyone listen to it. Perhaps the best “review” of Gordon Lightfoot’s song can be summarised as:

“How did a 300 year old man write a 200 year old song about something that happened only 50 years ago?"



The really amazing thing that may have come from the tragedy of the Edmund Fitzgerald is that while there were regular shipwrecks in the Great Lakes, and especially on Lake Superior, this one event galvanised the shipping industry to make safety changes such that since November 10th, 1975, there has not been another shipwreck on Lake Superior (and precious few on any of the other Great Lakes).



So the Happy Thought of the Day? If we as a community really care enough, we can change the way we do things.

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