People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Chile miner rescue the good news story of the decade - VIDEO

Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 11:56 PM

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What human being alive could not feel an enormous surge of humanity and gratitude when miner Florencio Avalaos was brought to the surface from 2,400 feet below the surface in Chile?

The hug with his wife and child was the greatest news moment of the year perhaps the decade

There are indeed times when we are the world, all of us, not countries or continents, but human beings alone on a planet.

Looking on the face of the young son of Florencio Avalos as he awaited his father's rescue you could not but be touched to the the core of your soul as to the depth of the extraordinary emotion of the families

The cries were 'Chile, Chile' but hey just as well may have been for all of humanity.

With such a dearth of good news in this world of ours, it was magnificent to see man overcome an incredible challenge such as rescuing miners thousands of feet in the ground.

We can only imagine what it was like to spend 69 days under the earth that kept them prisoner

For seventeen of those days they were cut off from the world, alone and completely at the mercy of the operation to rescue them.

After seventeen days almost everyone except the families themselves believed that they were dead in the mine collapse.

Yet somehow they survived and when the drill came back to the surface with a note attached from the miners that read "33 of us all alive" the whole world rejoiced in the sheer incredulity of it all.

The operation to rescue them was global with Americans providing much of the expertise that led to the time needed to rescue them being cut in half.

But in the end it was all mankind that could rejoice.

A rare moment when we were all the world.

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WoundedKnee | Oct 13, 2010, 01:54 PM EDT

I hear from Ireland that the drill used to bore the original hole--the one that was vital for lowering food & medicine--was made in Ireland.

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IrishEddy | Oct 13, 2010, 12:57 PM EDT

An Irishman played a big role in Chile's independence

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Bridgetftmyers | Oct 13, 2010, 12:24 PM EDT

George Dillon , NASTY ONE YOU ARE !!!!!!

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jdi2269 | Oct 13, 2010, 11:44 AM EDT

THE BEST NEWS OF THE DECADE WILL BE IN TWO WEEKS WHEN AMERICA VOTES OUT ALL THE BIG SPENDERS AND OUR NATION CAN START TO RECOVER FROM THE MOST INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT EVER!

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NyackGal | Oct 13, 2010, 09:10 AM EDT

What a great story...and most of the miners so far have expressed a strong faith in God...I guess(as in foxholes) there are no atheists in collapsed mines either!

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hollabackgurl | Oct 13, 2010, 09:00 AM EDT

I'm just enjoying the irony of watching loads of miners being saved on Margret Thatcher's 85th birthday.

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GeorgeDillon | Oct 13, 2010, 03:15 AM EDT

I noticed that the Chilean flag was much in evidence. Also, the miners sang the Chilean national anthem, and there were cries of Viva Chile! My question is, if a similar occurrence were to happen in Ireland, would we see the same expressions of national pride? Not likely. The Irish don't even know their own national anthem, and they use their flag to advertize pubs!

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