A GLOBAL 'KUMBAYA':THE MINE RESCUE IN CHILE-THE BEST MOMENT OF THE 21ST CENTURY
No one can argue that we haven't become more cynical and jaded in the 21st century. Thanks to an abundance of instant news technology, we can get the casualty count of any disaster on the planet within seconds.
Graphic video images show up in mere milliseconds from video phones. We're on the frontlines of any disaster or war thanks to the power and immediacy of the Internet community.
That type of relentless 24-7 experience inflicts a huge price on the "feel-good" side of the human equation.
And then thirty-three guys get rescued from a Chilean mine and we can access our feel good side for the first time since the 20th century...
The new decade/millennium got off to a horrible start on Sept. 11 2001 .The numbers 9-11 suddenly became a lot more significant than an emergency call button on your phone.
That happened when some completely misguided wing nuts aimed passenger jets at the biggest buildings in New York. 9-11 was followed by military action and subsequent domestic military and civilian casualty counts. This is nasty stuff that you can see everyday in a newspaper, on TV or more significantly, on any number of online sanctioned and unsanctioned videos.
Follow it up with the Dec. 26 2004 tsunami in Thailand-that massive natural disaster also had heavy coverage from conventional and unconventional sources and we learned that the rescue and recovery efforts were a joke. The same thing happened with the earthquake in Haiti, although we did learn that Hollywood types know few limitations when it comes to exploiting a human tragdey for PR value.
Regular reports of tragedies on a smaller scale assail our senses every day. Whether it's a missing kid in Omaha or a very bad end to a Boy Scout hike in northern Oregon-we will hear about it. The same immediate and instant access to bad events applies to crooked politicians whether they live in Chicago or Liberia or Poland. Then there's the economic meltdown that smacked us in the forehead in 2008.
Cynicism goes off the chart with a never-ending supply of horrible, graphically documented news.
But typically it's the scale of the big events that cause us to chuck our humanity and compassion because the sheer magnitude of the problem overwhelms us. Whether it's Haiti, Thailand or New Orleans - the extent of the devastation and human misery causes normal human beings to tune out over the long haul because the problems are simply too large to solve overnight-if ever. It's our basic coping mechanism as human beings-it's part of our survival DNA thanks to our collective history of conflict, natural disasters and horrible diseases over thousands of years.
But this Chilean mine rescue was on a small enough scale to suggest a beginning, middle and an end. Plus the human equation was 33, a simple, small number–one we could understand. The problem wasn't too big, it was solvable, it had an achievable deadline, it had a realistic chance of success but most of all it demonstrated the best of humanity.
Things like total, no strings attached cooperation for a common goal, a collective will to survive, charity, worldwide concern and unquestioned global aid to solve the problem and save 33 lives. Not a big number on a disaster scale, but the biggest number on a humanity scale.
That's why I'm nominating this rescue for the "Kumbaya" moment of the 21st century.
It took place on a small stage in Chile, but it was huge and life affirming in significance.
We really needed that.
Jerry Sutherland @mystarcollecotrcar.om
