A Miracle In The Chilean Desert

By Semperpapa

The last of the 33 miners who had been trapped in the mine that had collapsed nearly 70 days ago deep below the surface of the Chilean desert has been rescued. And the last of the rescuers has also been lifted out of the depth of the San Jose mine.

So now that everyone involved in this saga of survival has the chance to rejoice in the new lease on life they received, I feel compelled to express my thoughts.

In the first place what the world has witnessed was a real miracle, as the conditions surrounding the accident turned out to be all in favor of the survival of each one of the men trapped.
Not only the miners were able to escape the collapse of the mine and seek refuge in a portion of the system where they were safe, but it was also a place where they did not have to contend with the horrible possibility of running out of oxygen.

Additionally, they were led by a man who had the promptness of mind to immediately ration the little food and water they had at the time of the accident. He held the men in control for the first 17 days of the ordeal, when they had no idea if they would ever be found, but he held them together and hoping.

The place of refuge they had reached was one where they also were safe from dangerous fumes and additional vault collapse and in a position where they could be reached by the rescuers.

And the miracle did not stop there as the rescue efforts were joined by Jeff Hart, a driller from an American company called Layne Christensen.
Mr. Hart, who works as a contractor, was in Afghanistan drilling water wells for American Military installations, when he received the call that directed him to the far Chilean location. Together with his team, composed of Matt Staffel, Doug Reeves and Jorge Herrera, they applied their extensive knowledge, and the resources made available by Layne, Geotec and other companies, in the non-stop attempt to reach the trapped men.
The help from the American corporations was requested by the Chilean authorities when they realized that their expertise was not up the task.

Hart and his team and all the other rescuers involved in the operation did accomplish the miracles of bringing 33 men back to their families, a jubilant country and, thanks to the news coverage, the whole world.
I found myself riveted to the TV set as the first of the miner finally surfaced and embraced his wife and son, and I was happy when I heard that the last of the rescuers was out of the subterranean enclave.

But for every great story, there is always the ugly side of it, usually created by people who contribute absolutely nothing to the discussion.
Case in point, as frequently happens when addressing Media ugly behavior, MSNBC Chris Matthews.
As the rescue images filled the screen, Matthews was talking with AFL/CIO president and chief thug Richard Trumka. This was the inopportune statement of Matthews in response to Trumka’s litany of need for ever increasing government regulations:

“Okay let’s talk about what the…message to a lot of the people was. The message coming out of the Tea Party people, and lot of them are good people, is every man for himself, basically. No more taxes, no more government, no more everything. No more safety net. No more health care for everybody. Everybody just get out there, make your buck, save it, screw the government, move on. Right?”

Of course the hyperbolic connection between TEA party members and the rescue of the miner remains obscure, but Matthews is the only one who could engage such argument.

I leave it to Matthews to politicize the triumph of divine intervention and human ingenuity. But that is my personal belief.
I wonder, though, if Matthews is aware of the fact that politically, Chile has the first Conservative government in 50+ years, the people having had enough of the Socialist devastation of the past.
And yet the country came together to aid 33 of its own, without any publicized finger pointing or extortion against evil corporations at least until the lives of the men was in jeopardy.
But such responsible prioritizing is something completely foreign to the Matthews and the Trumkas of American Marxism.

I also heard the miners being called ‘heroes’ and that is one of my worst pet peeves. As much as I am ecstatic about the rescue of these men and their return to life, there is nothing heroic they actually did, in the pure sense of the word. To some degree, the leader of the miner may be the closest to that definition because of the way he took control of the situation from day one.
The rest of the miners were the souls in peril but not heroes. The true heroes of the whole incident were the rescuers who voluntarily descended into the mine to assist the rescue operation, and who were the last to leave the mine after all the miners had been lifted out.

Ultimately, these are the events that show, in part, the true nature of man.
On one side we have the dedication of people like Jeff Hart and his team, the rescuers, the NASA team, working incessantly toward the ultimate goal of saving human beings in peril.
On the other we have societal parasites like Matthews and Trumka, attempting to score political points from every situation, only to further incur the scorn and dislike of common sense Americans.

Just my thoughts!