Thoughts on Trapped Miners in Chile, Part Two

Tweet

All of the 33 miners were rescued and brought to safety!

What an amazing story! With so many odds against them, and so many potential risks along the way - it is an absolute miracle. An absolute fairy tale ending for what could have been a horrendous tragedy.

What started off as 17 days without contact with the outside world, starting August 5th, with little to no food for that duration... ended in a miraculous way. After spending 70 days 2000+ feet underground, they were finally rescued! The rescue efforts went great and without any major hitches - you couldn't ask for anything more... especially considering the fact it took about half the time than what was originally predicted.

I've been glued to to the TV and my phone for the past twenty four hours watching all the latest developments and watching each miner being ascended to safety - with a smile plastered on my face and emotions running high. I'm an emotional person, I know that, but you just can't help it. The tears of joy and the chills as each miner was reunited with the outside world and their families, reminded you each time how differently this could have ended. Thinking about how I was feeling, I can't even imagine what the miners, their families, and the rescuers were feeling.

As I read somewhere online earlier, these miners were the luckiest 'unlucky' men alive. Well said.

There were so many inspirational stories told throughout this ordeal, but one of my favorites was when Jimmy Sanchez, the 19 year old miner (the youngest one trapped), said that there weren't 33 of us down there, there were always 34 of us - because god never left our side (i'm paraphrasing).

For the past 10 weeks, but especially for the last 24 hours, people throughout the world were praying and hoping for the best possible outcome, and that's exactly what we got. The rescuers involved did an amazing job and they deserve much thanks for their efforts. I can't imagine how they are feeling after finally being able to breath a sigh of relief.

What an amazing 24 hours. What a miracle.

Counting my blessings,

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Videos of the Rescues of Chilean Miners

Tweet

Here's a video of the last minor rescued:

Here's the video of the first miner rescued:


I'm trying to find a video for each separate rescue. If you have any links, let me know.

 P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Thoughts on Trapped Miners in Chile

Tweet

Anyone with a heart has to have been disheartened following the story of the 33 miners trapped underground since August 5th (68 days!) in Chile. How can you not?

I've read many stories on the whole incident every day for the last ten weeks. Each time I did so, I got chills and thought about what they were going through - physically and mentally.

Knowing the rescue mission was to go underway tonight, all day today it was on my mind. I can't think of anyone who isn't rooting for a safe rescue of all of the miners later today and in the next few days. As a psychology student, I have been thinking a lot about how not only are the next few days important, but more importantly so are the next few weeks and months as each miner settles back into their "routine" and their psychological state.

It was so admirable and inspirational when I was reading earlier today that all of the miners are keep insisting to stay on the mine site until all of their fellow trapped miners have been rescued (instead of being transported to the hospital as they are rescued). Their strength, solidarity and endurance throughout this ordeal has been amazing.


 P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Thoughts on Earthquake in Haiti

Tweet

I'm sure, by now, everyone has heard of the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti earlier this week on Tuesday that has caused so much destruction, left so many people homeless and without food, injured countless people, and killed over 45 thousand people (and counting; the number is expected to sky rocket tremendously). Not to mention the amount of 'missing' people that are still unaccounted for.

I keep reading in the news and through twitter that government officials in Haiti are pleading for basic essentials like water and food, and aid to treat the injured. That they don't have the capacity to treat the injured. That they lack the technology in so many aspects, such as being able to locate people and notify their families elsewhere that they have been accounted for in one sense or another.

At the same time, technology has gone so far in our part of the world through the White House blog people learned that they can donate ten dollars at a time by simply texting 'HAITI' to '90999' and confirming their donations when prompted. The ten dollar donation will appear on your next cell phone bill and a 100% of it will go to Red Cross to help those effected by this earthquake.

It gets you thinking about how much you take for granted on a daily basis and how much we have to be thankful for. It also got me thinking about the fact that it takes a catastrophe like an earthquake for people to really count their blessings.

But you know what - I also thought about the fact that it was once again proved that when we really need to... we can rally together as one collective group of people for a worthy cause. A couple of hours ago I was reading on twitter that through cell phone donations alone the Red Cross and Yele organizations have received donations of over six million dollars combined! Pretty amazing, don't you think?



P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Pervez Musharraf Resigns

Tweet

In the midst of facing impeachment, Pervez Musharraf resigned today as Pakistan's President.

We'll see what this move does for the future of Pakistan.

Cheeseheads Propel Another Obama Victory...

Tweet

The big international news today was of course that Fidel Castro resigned as President of Cuba and commander in chief of Cuba's military, saying that he would:

"not aspire to, nor ... accept the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief. I wish only to fight as a soldier of ideas. ... Perhaps my voice will be heard."

I read online earlier in the day that the U.S. embargo, however, on Cuba is to remain in place.

Now to the election coverage in the U.S.:

The latest spin against Obama have been accusation of him plagiarizing! Obama has been accused of borrowing lines from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. On CNN Political Ticker, I read that people from Obama's campaign came back though, saying that Clinton had a pattern of borrowing some of the Illinois senator’s signature phrases, including “Yes, We Can” and “Fired Up, Ready to Go.” Anyone who has watched Clinton's speeches knows very well she has used Obama's words over and over again, so she should be the last one to make allegations.

Obama's campaign circulated a YouTube clip which deals with the allegations and shows Hillary Clinton (pre-Iown caucus) saying "…We have seen thousands and thousands of Iowans over the last week and we are fired up and we are ready to go because we know America is ready for change and the process starts right here in Iowa".

Tonight was the primary in Wisconsin (for both parties) and Hawaii (just democrats), along with the caucus in Washington (just republicans).

In the Wisconsin primary, the winners were McCain and Obama. So far Obama has won the last nine in a row. Obama will most likely win Hawaii as well, which means that he will have won ten in a row by the end of tonight. :)

Speech wise, this time around McCain learned his lesson and came out and gave his speech as soon as the Wisconsin polls closed, considering that last time he waited to give a speech after Obama and was no where near as good. McCain threw out another shot at Obama in tonight's speech, saying: "I'll make sure the Americans aren't deceived by an eloquent, but empty promises of change".

My favorite quotes from Obama's speech tonight: "I'm running because of the fierce urgency of now. Because there is such a thing as too late" and "Hope is not blind optimism...hope is imagining for, then fighting for what never seemed possible before."

I'll update the final results later tonight or tomorrow. February 21st is the next debate for the democrats..and the next major primaries are on March 4th: Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Vermont.