Scene of Disaster, Not Fiesta
One can hardly conceive of people suspended in a state between mourning and hope for the future lending themselves to celebration, but in a sense that too might be representative of hope for the future, rather than to descend into a state of mournful abeyance of life. So family members who have spent the past month awaiting word of their loved ones trapped 700 metres underground, could perhaps be forgiven, given the state of their mental anguish, to want to express briefly some kind of joy in life.
The 200th anniversary of Chilean independence, near on the horizon, and ordinarily a holiday of great exuberant expression, has been irremediably marred for the thirty-three Chilean miners trapped in their subterranean chamber, and by extension, for their families awaiting their release from their current state of virtual suspended animation. Not all family members, however feel exhilarated by the thought of celebrating while their husbands/brothers/fathers/uncles/cousins are trapped below.
"I thought we agreed not to do such a thing" the wife of the oldest of the 33 trapped miners has reportedly reminded the others. "Let's save the party for when the men are with us", represents her words of elderly wisdom. And the country's mining minister, Laurence Golborne, is in complete concordance with that sensible position, with his reprimand to the would-be cheerleaders, that Camp Hope is "not a fiesta or a holiday camp.
"It's the site of a massive rescue operation and we would do well to remember that." In fact, it would seem rather ghoulish to onlookers of which there are scant numbers permitted other than the media, and even more perplexing to the rescue teams working feverishly to drill no fewer than three options, each of which has the potential of saving the trapped miners. Plan A has begun as has Plan B, as alternates, but then another, Plan C will soon begin drilling.
And it is Plan C, if it succeeds, that might see rescue operations concluded far sooner than the December 31 potential. Each of the planned drilling sites can be successful in reaching and extracting the men, but Plan B is a shorter, more direct route and Plan C shorter even yet, representing a depth of 597 metres, and potentially cutting rescue time by at least a month. And time is certainly of the essence.
The sooner those trapped men are rescued, the better the prospects for their mental health outcomes. There will be ample time to celebrate, once the rescue plans have resulted in the triumph of completion, and each one of the miners has been released from his personal hell in a mind-destroying prison of earth and stone.
In the meantime, to ensure that calm prevails, the medical team overseeing the health of the men have logically concluded that there should be no alcohol provided to the trapped men. Some of whom are already suffering from depression, and for whom alcohol could complicate their condition. The trapped miners themselves thought it might be a relief to celebrate their country's independence day with Chilean red wine and empanadas.
There might be a swift and short-lived release from the demoralizing condition many are beginning to suffer as they continue to come to grips with the reality of their ongoing imprisonment. Their anguish at being trapped for over a month compounded with the realization that they must continue living as they are now, for three times as long. One month's misery extending into three months of ongoing agony, despite the determination to endure the unendurable.
Most of the trapped miners are new to the mine. Older, experienced workers had left the mine. Those who took their place, some of them migrants from Bolivia, were desperate for employment, for a job that would pay up to twice what they had been minimally earning before coming to the San Jose copper and gold mine whose owners had ignored government safety rules and regulations.
The pain of a catastrophic forced incarceration will remain long after rescue has been effected. The trapped miners must mine deep within themselves to discover their interior resources of hope, the will to survive their ordeal. And when they do, despite the lingering trauma, the joy of life re-discovered will sustain them.
The 200th anniversary of Chilean independence, near on the horizon, and ordinarily a holiday of great exuberant expression, has been irremediably marred for the thirty-three Chilean miners trapped in their subterranean chamber, and by extension, for their families awaiting their release from their current state of virtual suspended animation. Not all family members, however feel exhilarated by the thought of celebrating while their husbands/brothers/fathers/uncles/cousins are trapped below.
"I thought we agreed not to do such a thing" the wife of the oldest of the 33 trapped miners has reportedly reminded the others. "Let's save the party for when the men are with us", represents her words of elderly wisdom. And the country's mining minister, Laurence Golborne, is in complete concordance with that sensible position, with his reprimand to the would-be cheerleaders, that Camp Hope is "not a fiesta or a holiday camp.
"It's the site of a massive rescue operation and we would do well to remember that." In fact, it would seem rather ghoulish to onlookers of which there are scant numbers permitted other than the media, and even more perplexing to the rescue teams working feverishly to drill no fewer than three options, each of which has the potential of saving the trapped miners. Plan A has begun as has Plan B, as alternates, but then another, Plan C will soon begin drilling.
And it is Plan C, if it succeeds, that might see rescue operations concluded far sooner than the December 31 potential. Each of the planned drilling sites can be successful in reaching and extracting the men, but Plan B is a shorter, more direct route and Plan C shorter even yet, representing a depth of 597 metres, and potentially cutting rescue time by at least a month. And time is certainly of the essence.
The sooner those trapped men are rescued, the better the prospects for their mental health outcomes. There will be ample time to celebrate, once the rescue plans have resulted in the triumph of completion, and each one of the miners has been released from his personal hell in a mind-destroying prison of earth and stone.
In the meantime, to ensure that calm prevails, the medical team overseeing the health of the men have logically concluded that there should be no alcohol provided to the trapped men. Some of whom are already suffering from depression, and for whom alcohol could complicate their condition. The trapped miners themselves thought it might be a relief to celebrate their country's independence day with Chilean red wine and empanadas.
There might be a swift and short-lived release from the demoralizing condition many are beginning to suffer as they continue to come to grips with the reality of their ongoing imprisonment. Their anguish at being trapped for over a month compounded with the realization that they must continue living as they are now, for three times as long. One month's misery extending into three months of ongoing agony, despite the determination to endure the unendurable.
Most of the trapped miners are new to the mine. Older, experienced workers had left the mine. Those who took their place, some of them migrants from Bolivia, were desperate for employment, for a job that would pay up to twice what they had been minimally earning before coming to the San Jose copper and gold mine whose owners had ignored government safety rules and regulations.
The pain of a catastrophic forced incarceration will remain long after rescue has been effected. The trapped miners must mine deep within themselves to discover their interior resources of hope, the will to survive their ordeal. And when they do, despite the lingering trauma, the joy of life re-discovered will sustain them.
Labels: Environment, Health, Human Relations, Nature
posted by Pieface | 8:17 PM
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