Chilean Miners and the Phoenix

The Chilean miners were finally rescued today. Over my lunch hour I watched one man emerge out of a claustrophobic nightmare as he was hoisted 2000 feet from where he had been trapped under the rock. Volunteers opened the door of "The Phoenix," a slender capsule built for the sole purpose of saving him and 32 others, and he stepped into the sun for the first time in 69 days.

The first thing he did was fall to his knees put his hands together and thank God. His prayer touched me.

This wasn't a quick "Hey thanks God" prayer that I've seen football players give after they score a touchdown. His was quite an involved personal moment where he seemed oblivious of the people surrounding him. He bowed his head in humility. He crossed himself as prescribed in his particular spiritual practice, and did not move from the ground.

His lover met him where he was kneeling and threw her arms around his neck. He melted into her. The two of them held each other and were overcome with emotion.

What a moment.

Today was full of moments like that. Millions of happy tears rained down today shed by family, friends and empathetic onlookers from all over the world. Who can say they have a story like that?

This man and others trapped for so long under the surface had just become a part of a miracle, the likes of which will continue to be talked about and handed down from parent to child in Chile for generations. This will be the story of hope. This is the story that parents will tell their children to teach perseverance, endurance, faith, love and community.

I thought about what it must have been like to be trapped in a situation like that. The closest I can come to it though is the idea of falling as a metaphor.

I saw a movie once called "Sex and Lucia," written and directed by Julio Medem. There is a scene that I am reminded of every now and again when I reflect on my past. Oddly, I can not really remember what the movie was actually about, only that this particular scene expressed an aspect of my experience in a symbolic way that helped to give me a visual frame of reference.

In it, following some horrible events, one of the main characters falls into a hole. The hole was deep and once the character got to the bottom, there was no more worse that could possibly happen. When the character climbed out, it was as if he had died. The past life was gone and he was free to begin again making new choices.

I find myself wondering if these 33 men feel a sense of rebirth and starting over.

What would you do if you had a chance to live when you thought you were at your end? What would you do differently? What would you change?

Hope, dedication, perseverance, creativity and love won today. In a world where we are addicted to the horrific and sad, this is the story that held our attention above all else.

To witness love and the opportunity for rebirth was pretty awesome. I'm glad I saw it.