Freed From a Mineshaft of Our Own

The world is watching as the Chilean miners are rescued after being trapped for 69 days under 700,000 tons of rock, and I can't help but feel as I scan the news reports that we find the story so compelling because it foretells our own.

Sometimes we feel as trapped as the miners, sweltering in a cramped space of debt or uncertainty. We worry about foreclosure or loved ones far from home, about losing our jobs or losing our battle against loneliness or fear.

Each man emerges from the slender capsule and reunites with family or clutches the flag and our hearts leap with him, knowing it's a story of courage and triumph, a reminder that almost anything can be endured, that within the hearts and minds of ordinary people there is a fierceness and a will that can overcome circumstances, uncertainty, and an agony of waiting.

They made it. They stayed unified and faithful and focused forward, and they made it through 69 days without knowing and 17 days with no contact with the outside world. They worked together. They made 48 hours of rations last two and half weeks. They endured the ordeal of confinement and the risk of rescue, and they did with faith and courage and will, simple men in a great, almost impossible trial.

For once, the news on the front page was good. And it taught us something unforgettable about ourselves.