I can’t help but be incredibly moved by stories of human rescue and triumph. It taps into something deep.
I can still recall crying at my desk at FDIC in the summer of 2002, reading about the Quecreek Mine Rescue online. Those nine men were trapped for 78 hours and were rescued alive. Rejoice!
So, how much more special will it be if / when the Chilean miners are rescued! The 33 of them have been trapped in a mine in Chile since August 5. They are living in an approximately 500-square-foot space. (See this diagram on CNN.com.)
For the first 18 days after the mine collapse, no one knew if they were alright. And then, finally, a drill punctured the top of the space and the miners attached a note that said, roughly translated, “There are 33 of us and we are alive in a refuge.”
Photo:
President Sebastian Pinera holds up the first communication with the miners after the mine collapse. (AP)
The media loves stories like this, they are sensational for all the right reasons. CNN has been doing its share of coverage, and the BBC is reportedly sending a crew of 25 to cover the rescue.
There is a part of me, however, that knows that these men are not saints — none of us are. That their families have problems like the rest of us. And I sort of appreciate that the tabloid media tells that side of the story. Though, I do feel silly when tears are running down my face as I read about the details of the ongoing rescue and then I come across this:
“Some of the men’s wives have had another unpleasant surprise – running into their husbands’ girlfriends at the camp above ground,” according to the Daily Mail.
Humans will be humans. A little drama at the camps. We can all rejoice with them anyway.
I get obsessed with stories like this, too! Love how you point out the not-so-fairy-tale side of the story 🙂 I really hope these men make it out alive.
Andrea, there’s marvelous dialogue in a ’94 movie about the newspaper biz, “The Paper”:
“This is great! It writes like butter.”
“There is actual butter coming out of my pen.”
So, as I read your piece, (the rescue in Chile is a big story in Colorado … a Denver driller is leading the way), I remembered that dialogue. It reminded me of your writing. Forget butter, you write like the wind!
From your heart and mind to your finger”trips” … you’ve a gift.
I always have wondered if people were meant to be forever monogamous or if that is a human-constructed artificial constraint. Have also wondered if “affairs” can actually truly help certain marriages or conversely help people to see they are in the wrong marriage or got married too young, etc. Nobody benefits from people being in the wrong marriage or in a marriage that does not fulfill all their needs. Also be interested, and somewhat funny, to see what would happen if you put the wives and the girlfriends of the miners next to each other when the miners emerge so as to see which miners instinctively go first for their wives or their girlfriends. Kind of like a variation of your ant experiment. (See Andrea’s “On War–A Higher Perspective, Part II”). I am sure, too, that some of the wives have had their share of extra-curricular activities.
Either way, I am glad that it looks like this mining disaster turned out OK. What a crappy job that only the truly disenfranchised get stuck doing to begin with. People need to rise up again and get re-energized. Sheep get slaughtered.
?”Scary world syndrome” and “American idol syndrome:” two sensational opposites, but the two trends of mass media currently–and rightfully so. The mundane doesn’t draw attention. Brittany Spears is either a super hot, super famous entertainer and Hollywood starlet that every little girl wants to be; or she’s a coked-up, bipolar, dead-beat mom who gave into the pressures of young Hollywood. President Obama is either an American superhero who is going to clean up the mess in our country and the world in a day with his super smarts and anti-Bush shield; or he’s a disconnected, money-wasting robot who uses anti-Bush poison to stomp on all of the hard-working Americans and empower our enemies. You’re right. While the extreme draws attention for ratings and votes, it’s somewhat nice to get a little taste of the mundane–to know that the enemy might read Dr. Seuss to his kids every night, or that the hero might like to watch p0rn.
But it is also nice to have the fairy tale when surrounded by so many thrillers lately–a little yang to match the yin. And I totally get drawn into it, too. I love seeing that there is still so much compassion and tenacity among people for one another, when it would be so much easier (and cheaper) to give up and walk away to their own unaffected lives. You mean people DO love and care about one another? People ARE’NT always out there with selfish motives and hateful messages? “Heal the woooooorld…” hahahahahaha.