I've not slept well for a couple of nights and yesterday morning I was awake with a headache around 4.30am. After laying there for a while, I got up and turned on the TV news to find breaking news about the Chilean miners with one already free of captivity. It has been a stunning technical feat to find them and then attempt a rescue.I watched the 2nd man, Mario Sepulveda come to the surface and had a tear in my eye when he was reunited with his family. When Jimmy Sanchez (the 5th miner) came to the surface, I had another small tear. Despite being a father, at 19 he is just a kid really and had been going through some mental struggles and anxiety, especially during the first 17 days when the 33 miners faced a long a slow death until the exploritary drill found them and gave them a chance.
Some reports have focused on Chile's poor safety record and I hope that this episode will improve conditions for thousands of workers.
When I really consider the mental anguish they have gone through, I cant help but think that the problems we all have most days are pathetic in comparison. I hope I will remember that the next time I complain about something trivial.
I couldn't agree more. I can't even begin to imagine the claustrophic conditions and emotions and all that goes along with that. For me, the ride up in the Fenix would be my worst nightmare...in spite of taking me to freedom. I'm thinking that they would have had to shoot me. And I see that they have all taken a vow of silence -- to never speak of some things that took place down there.
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