I really don't know where to begin this post, but I knew I had to write something. Last night, when I went to sleep, it was with a light heart. Reese and I had been watching the news all night and praying for the 12 miners that were still trapped 260 feet under the ground. Like Brandi, we could not imagine how frightening it must be to feel the weight of the world, literally, on top of you. Reese was captivated by the story and I watched as he became genuinely vested in the fate of these men he did not, and would probably never, know. We were so happy to see the faces of the families as they cried and celebrated what seemed to be a miracle. Who wouldn't?
I was shocked when I woke up and saw the news. It was a case of "miscommunication." The families celebrated the miracle that would return their husbands, fathers, sons and uncles back to them. No doubt some made promises to treat them better, to love them more, and appreciate even the largest fault they possessed. I cannot imagine the pain they felt when they realized they would be denied their resolutions. I cried when one grieving wife said, "We may be dumb, but we love our family. We should not have been treated like this." As if she had internalized the view of working-class, country people as dumb. As if she thought that the world would view the loss of these men as somehow less-than the loss of others, either more affluent or educated, than these men who went deep into the earth to bring out coal. Another lady said, "We have been praising God for the miracle, and now we wonder if there is a God. We are Christian people, and that was a hard thing to say." I am sure it was. It is hard to hear.
Now the blame game will start. The first blamed will probably be the media. They pushed for information and got it wrong. The next will be the owners of the mine, who probably does bear a lot of the blame, and then some one will politicized this tragedy, much like Hurricane Katrina. The mine had over 200 violations. People will blame them and Fox News will turn around and defend business. I can hear Bill O'Reilly now, "No one forced these guys to do this work. They were paid well and they did it. It is a tragedy, but what can you do?" All of this will detract from the real tragedy: loved ones were lost. It is hard to make sense of this.
1 comment:
I saw it on the news this am too. My heart went out to the family members. I can't imagine what it would be like to be worried about my loved one like the families of the miners were then to find out they're fine. Elation. Everything will be okay and then find out it was all a miscommunication and my loved one was actually dead the whole time. Devestating. I hope the families of the lost miners give whoever is responsible hell and sue their pants off. It makes me upset and angry at the same time. I don't know how to feel, but know that I would be devestated.
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