Watching Men Come up from the Ground

Isn't this just the coolest thing? Right now I'm enjoying MLM's morning nap and watching the trapped Chilean miners being rescued one by one. You would think that by the twelfth miner, some of the novelty and emotion of seeing this process would have worn off, but it hasn't. It's totally amazing to see someone stepping into sunlight after so many days underground; I'm in awe the sheer miracle of logistics that kept these guys alive and is helping them return to the surface.


More than that, the emotional experience of watching the reunions with family members after so long apart is keeping me glued to the television. I just saw, for example, Edison Pena reunite with the woman he loves (wife? girlfriend? I'm not sure). She has a house near the mines, and he got a job as a miner in order to be near her. I can't even begin to imagine all the emotions she's been dealing with in the last two months; and what it must have been like to find herself in his arms again with the whole world watching.

I'm also in awe of the psychological resiliency and incredible connectedness of the miners as a group. With everything else they've been dealing with -- survival, keeping themselves entertained and sane underground -- they also have to handle their new celebrity as the entire world watches their story. Apparently, they've agreed as a group that no one person will profit more than the others from their story and experience.

I imagine that the last 70 days under the ground have been a major study in group dynamics, and while I have no desire to be stuck in that situation myself, part of me would've liked to be a fly on the collapsed mine wall as the 33 miners navigated their experience together. Maybe in the coming weeks and months, we'll hear more about how they managed their situation and their relationships under such extraordinary circumstances. I have to say, it's a book I would certainly read.

From any angle, it's an incredible story, and I'm sure I have nothing to add that won't be said by news anchors and other commentators everywhere. So I'll just keep watching the news feed and clutching my Kleenex...