When the Titanic sank, one of the passengers on board was John Jacob Astor IV — one of the richest men in America at the time. He had enough money in the bank to build thirty Titanics.
Yet when faced with death, he chose what he believed was morally right and gave up his spot in a lifeboat to two terrified children.
Another passenger, Isidor Straus — co-owner of the Macy’s department store empire — made a similar choice.
“I will not get into a lifeboat before other men,” he said.
His wife, Ida, was offered a seat. She declined and insisted it be given to their young maid, Ellen Bird. Ida chose to stay with her husband and spend her final moments beside him.
These wealthy people chose to let go of their wealth — and even their lives — rather than betray their convictions. Their decisions revealed something remarkable about human dignity and the moral light that civilization still carries.
Years later, Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov reflected on something he witnessed many times while hearing confessions from the dying.
People, he said, never regret not earning an extra million, not building a bigger house, or not achieving more status.
What haunts them in their final hours is much simpler: the kindness they didn’t give, the help they didn’t offer, the support they didn’t show to family, friends, or even strangers.
Dignity matters. Morality matters. And it matters most when wealth, power, and comfort can’t save us.
If you are lucky enough to know people like that — people of character, of principle, of quiet honor — hold on to them.
A noble character is worth more than life itself.
And it’s far more valuable than wealth.