Tuesday, July 8, 2014

The New Yorker: "Sixty-Nine Days, The Ordeal of the Chilean Miners"

I’m not embarrassed to say I cried, a lot, at that moment, thinking that I wouldn’t see my family again, and thinking of the suffering they would go through,” Reygadas said. He walked away from the others, in violation of a mining code that says you should never walk alone underground. The rules didn’t matter anymore. He followed the light of his lamp until he found a front loader like the one he operated. He sat inside the cab, but after a few minutes he remembered the moment of the collapse. Tons of rock fell on top of the miners, and yet “there wasn’t anyone who was hurt.” The improbable fact of their survival, he thought, carried a hint of the divine. He decided to go back to the Refuge, and to be a strong old man instead of a weak one. If it was all part of a plan by his Creator, maybe his prayers would reach the surface, and make the people who loved him strong, too, because they had to be suffering, out there in the night, wondering if he and thirty-two other men could still be alive.” (excerpt from an over 13,500 word piece)

7 comments:

ricpic said...

There is no doubt that the suffering children of those suffering Chilean miners should be allowed across our border....just because.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The nice thing about a really good life insurance policy is you can afford the cowardly luxury of fearing for yourself in life-threatening situations.

AllenS said...

Never give up. Never.

YoungHegelian said...

I remember watching the rescue of the miners live on TV. I watched as they brought up all 33. As I watched I thought "their lives will never be the same, and probably not for the better".

They've actually done better than I expected them to. No suicides or battered families.

Aridog said...

What AllenS said. Awesome story.

deborah said...

I'm not in the frame of mind to read this story, but I will save it for later. Amazing the mine has been open since 1889.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

This is like the cut away post a few days ago.

And thanks AllenS for saying that. Those who give up die. Those who don't may die, but they have a chance.