Esme Blog: The Miners: Hope For Dark Days
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The degree to which the world was transfixed this week with the Chilean miners' rescue is a sign of how desperate all of us are for happy endings, for a story of hope, of overcoming the odds, of the improbable ending that is miraculous.
Perhaps not since Captain Sully landed his plane in the middle of the Hudson River without losing a soul has there been such a remarkable story of perseverance against the odds.
Our collective lenses have been shaded darkly these past years, perhaps going back to 9/11. The Great Recession's tentacles have ensnared most American families. Studies show that Americans' spending habits and attitudes about homeownership and economic security may be changed forever.
We are a more apprehensive, pessimistic bunch than perhaps any time since the Great Depression, a period when economic times were even more dire and a global threat from the forces of Germany and Japan threatened our security.
In 2010, we face those twin threats again. It is difficult these days to find narratives of hope and triumph. But in a mine in Chile we found just that; a reminder that dark days can always be brightened, even wiped away with a burst of heroism and the human spirit.
