When their new baby girl was born, Ariel Ticona and his wife Elizabeth decided to name her Esperanza which is Spanish for hope. It seemed only fitting.
When she was born her father was still trapped half a mile underground in the Atacama Desert. Hope was the only thing keeping him and his 32 comrades alive until rescue arrived. For the first 17 days in their would-be grave all they had was hope. That, and a couple cans of tuna to keep them going.
The successful rescue of 33 Chilean miners was a happy ending to a two month nightmare. But as uplifting as it was for the television audience and even for some of the miners themselves, the struggle will continue for those 33 tortured souls. Much of the story has yet to be told.
When those poor, unfortunate miners finally emerged from the ground about a billion people around the world witnessed two amazing feats.
The first was an engineering triumph. It was a technological challenge, to say the least, to locate and rescue the trapped men. Even with modern technology and the help of several other nations it still took 17 days to find them alive.
The image of the wheel slowly turning at the top of the rescue shaft made it look deceptively simple. All it took was a motor, a pulley, a long cable and a cage, combined with some advice from NASA and a lot of help from friends.
But even with all that help and expertise the miners might never have been found at all except for the second, even more amazing feat.
That same billion people were witness to a spiritual triumph as well, both above and below the ground. The world watched on as the human spirit soared and hope sprang eternal for the eventual rescue.
After 16 days of drilling and looking for the lost men it would have been easy to call off the search and erect a monument to their memory. But somebody somewhere must have had hope that the miners were still alive and the drilling continued. On the 17th day they were found.
After 16 days underground I can’t imagine what those 33 men were going through. Given their circumstances I’m sure some of them had accepted the fact that they would never be found in that lonely, underground tomb.
But somebody down there must have had hope. Even if it was only one man, somewhere in that group there was still a glimmer after all that time staring death in the face.
But that’s the thing about hope. Sometimes it only takes a glimmer to yield amazing results. On the 17th day they were found.
Those lost miners got to see the sky and breathe fresh air again. Sometimes joy and sorrow spring from the same pool.
I was one of the billion onlookers for the two days of the rescue. We were all transfixed and couldn’t look away. Every half hour or so another miner stepped out of the rescue cage and another story unfolded as he was hugged by loved ones and began his new life.
Chileans are clearly a religious people. Some of the miners fell to their knees in prayer as their first act above ground. Some were vindicated. Others were redeemed. Each man dealt with the horror in his own, personal way.
Their future awaits them.
For me there is still one unsung hero. Before the miners were rescued one man, Manuel Gonzalez, had to be lowered to assist them. He knew he had to go down. At that point the cage was untested so he didn’t know for sure if he would ever return.
He did make it back to the surface after a long day underground. After sending all 33 miners and the other rescuers back to the surface he was the last person out of the mine.
When he finally stepped out of the cage his fellow rescuers joked with him.
“Hey Manel,” they asked, “Did you remember to turn out the light?”
A good sense of humor doesn’t hurt either.
It may be years before baby Esperanza is told how she got her name. When she finally hears the story of the miners’ rescue she will probably understand what her father and the rest of the world learned from this sorry misadventure.
Fear is the most powerful of all human emotions, except for hope.
Hope always conquers fear.
When she was born her father was still trapped half a mile underground in the Atacama Desert. Hope was the only thing keeping him and his 32 comrades alive until rescue arrived. For the first 17 days in their would-be grave all they had was hope. That, and a couple cans of tuna to keep them going.
The successful rescue of 33 Chilean miners was a happy ending to a two month nightmare. But as uplifting as it was for the television audience and even for some of the miners themselves, the struggle will continue for those 33 tortured souls. Much of the story has yet to be told.
When those poor, unfortunate miners finally emerged from the ground about a billion people around the world witnessed two amazing feats.
The first was an engineering triumph. It was a technological challenge, to say the least, to locate and rescue the trapped men. Even with modern technology and the help of several other nations it still took 17 days to find them alive.
The image of the wheel slowly turning at the top of the rescue shaft made it look deceptively simple. All it took was a motor, a pulley, a long cable and a cage, combined with some advice from NASA and a lot of help from friends.
But even with all that help and expertise the miners might never have been found at all except for the second, even more amazing feat.
That same billion people were witness to a spiritual triumph as well, both above and below the ground. The world watched on as the human spirit soared and hope sprang eternal for the eventual rescue.
After 16 days of drilling and looking for the lost men it would have been easy to call off the search and erect a monument to their memory. But somebody somewhere must have had hope that the miners were still alive and the drilling continued. On the 17th day they were found.
After 16 days underground I can’t imagine what those 33 men were going through. Given their circumstances I’m sure some of them had accepted the fact that they would never be found in that lonely, underground tomb.
But somebody down there must have had hope. Even if it was only one man, somewhere in that group there was still a glimmer after all that time staring death in the face.
But that’s the thing about hope. Sometimes it only takes a glimmer to yield amazing results. On the 17th day they were found.
Those lost miners got to see the sky and breathe fresh air again. Sometimes joy and sorrow spring from the same pool.
I was one of the billion onlookers for the two days of the rescue. We were all transfixed and couldn’t look away. Every half hour or so another miner stepped out of the rescue cage and another story unfolded as he was hugged by loved ones and began his new life.
Chileans are clearly a religious people. Some of the miners fell to their knees in prayer as their first act above ground. Some were vindicated. Others were redeemed. Each man dealt with the horror in his own, personal way.
Their future awaits them.
For me there is still one unsung hero. Before the miners were rescued one man, Manuel Gonzalez, had to be lowered to assist them. He knew he had to go down. At that point the cage was untested so he didn’t know for sure if he would ever return.
He did make it back to the surface after a long day underground. After sending all 33 miners and the other rescuers back to the surface he was the last person out of the mine.
When he finally stepped out of the cage his fellow rescuers joked with him.
“Hey Manel,” they asked, “Did you remember to turn out the light?”
A good sense of humor doesn’t hurt either.
It may be years before baby Esperanza is told how she got her name. When she finally hears the story of the miners’ rescue she will probably understand what her father and the rest of the world learned from this sorry misadventure.
Fear is the most powerful of all human emotions, except for hope.
Hope always conquers fear.
