Total Eclipse: The Chilean Miners and Hope, By Whitney Farmer – Un Pop Culture

October 13, 2010 Whitney Farmer 10 Comments

Whitney runs a rock music venue on the beach in L.A. She has an M.B.A., and one traffic ticket eight years ago.

In an homage to Copiapo, Chile where news reports are being broadcast to the world, I made cioppino (different culture/similar spelling)  for us to eat in front of the television. We were joining viewers from North Korea, Morocco, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Milan, Bella Coola, and Burbank who were tuning in for the end of the vigil which had started out nightmarish and seemed to be forming into a triumph . Thirty-three miners had been entombed a half mile under the earth for 69 days. For the first 17 days, the trapped workers didn’t know if anyone knew that they were alive, and no one on the surface knew until they broke through on an exploratory drilling into the cavern where they had all found refuge after the cave-in.

The Fenix capsule – named phonetically after the mythical bird that arose from the ashes of its death to new life – began to lift the hardy (hearty?) crew at a rate of slightly more than one each hour.  As they were brought to the surface, 39 countries listened without breathing to the smallest details of their life stories, facts which would have warranted a channel change if we hadn’t been graced with an inoculation against trivia…at least for the 48 hours that is forecasted for the operation to be completed.  One had lost three fingers in a previous accident, one asked about his dog, one was a new teenage father who had pledged to marry the baby momma, one had diabetes, one who had never liked to pray fell to his knees and thanked God when he saw the sun again.

Some interesting things have gone right in this drama. To begin, the government of Chile took over all of the operations when the crisis occurred. Whether the company owning the mine is responsible for negligence or violated any occupational safety procedures doesn’t matter until the miners are safe. But unlike the Sago Mine debacle when the company attempted to control every aspect of the incident – including allowing a false report of multiple survivors to circulate while they racked their brains about how to spin the story of only one for the financial benefit of their shareholders –  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera made a strong executive decision to assign the full and unfettered resources of his country immediately since delays could cost lives. Perfect response to compelling math. From this position of absolute power, he was able to access the greatest resources from throughout the world and unite them under a common task. He used U.S. contractors fresh from well-drilling in Afghanistan to spearhead the rescue tunnel efforts.  Aerospace  bio-physicists developed strategies to help the miners live for an extended time in the dark as well as prepare for their eventual rescue.  They kept the miners to a strict schedule of activities in the cave that would mimic the sunlit world above, setting aside an area with LED lighting away from a sleeping area in order to support a circadian rhythm. The activities for the miners included everything from above-ground correspondence to spiritual fellowship to exercise that would allow them to lose sufficient girth to fit into a rescue capsule.

The government also kept the hot breath of the international media at a respectful and unobtrusive distance.  It has been interesting to see that the facts are getting through without the operational disruptions and harassment of families who are still living and breathing the crisis. While embracing freedom of the press, it serves the vision of sound journalism to require compassion and manners from the media. Real pros can accomplish this balancing act.
After a few miners had been brought to the surface, my spicy Texas/Scottish/Apache mother, who recently celebrated her 55th anniversary with my Canadian-mannered Chippewa father,  broke our reverent silence with an observation…

“I know what I would say if that was Daddy being brought out after two months…”

I’ll never learn, but I trustingly turned to her completely prepared to hear something deep.

“I’d say, ‘Oh great! Now I have to get rid of Jose!’”

But this does bring up another aspect of this unfolding story which is a lesson to us all. As with the miner who had both his wife AND his mistress waiting for him when he emerged from the nightmare into another nightmare, the time to put our lives in order is before a crisis. If we keep the oil in our lamps and the wicks trimmed, we’re ready when the call comes in the middle of the night. And we can work through a crisis with both hands at the wheel rather than using one to keep trying to cover our bare posterior.

Someone I know once told me that he is living his life under an eclipse, that he moves through everything as if he is under a shadow that he can’t escape. I’ve pondered that a great deal. The truth of it is that there is great honor in moving and working and continuing to breath even if we are trapped in darkness. The miners could have chosen to abandon hope at any moment, perhaps being most at risk during those first silent 17 days when they didn’t know if they would ever be found. But an eclipse doesn’t remove the light and warmth of the sun from our lives. It only stands in the way of it from reaching us for awhile. If we keep moving, things line up differently. And we are able to see the sun again.

Quote of the Blog from Ed Butler, Dude of Light and Fog, while discussing our group’s eternal search for the perfect bowl of noodles: “I knew a noodle girl once. I’ve never been able to get into it, unless maybe one day they start making steak noodles.”