Rising Above Ground, Self and Country
The triumphant extraction of these precious living human persons from 700 metres down is a story that tells many many stories that tell of the value of family, faith, care, functioning government and its many arms.
By Goh Keat Peng
The story of the restoration of the thirty-three trapped miners to their loved ones will live long in our memories and be amongst inspirational human stories which tug at our hearts and give us courage and encouragement in times of frail nerves and hopeless thoughts. The odds of being given a new lease of life and purpose in such a severe predicament- entrapped 700 metres (2300 feet) below ground and cut off from the outside or surface world until 17 days later when they were able to tie a message to a probing drill which told the country and world: “All 33 of us are well inside the shelter”. We who live and move freely with all the amenities and sanitation will never know what it must have been like for them to live in such trying conditions for a total of 69 days till finally they were lifted to the surface alive and free!
During their ordeal, I have always wondered how would or could human persons ever do that- live with 32 others in a confined, below ground environment- how ever would they eat, answer nature’s call, sleep. I who have a hard time even sharing a room with another person at residential conferences. (The closest I had ever come anywhere near just the mere periphery of such an experience was when I was forced into a police lock-up during the Reformasi days- with little standing or sitting room let alone to lie down for the night, let alone sleep in a cell completely covered with slimy dirt on the floor and even the bars, not to mention the toilet facility.)
So the triumphant extraction of these precious living human persons from 700 metres down is a story that tells many many stories that tell of the value of family, faith, care, functioning government and its many arms, professional services, technology, planning, logistics, team-work and executionary skills. The value of dream, wish, will, concern and love; the value of presence of mind, courage, perseverance, endurance.
It reminds me of the biblical exhortation: “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” (Romans 5.3-5)
Many have written and will write and share their reflections on this uplifting story. I hope many more will do so because of the value of this story and other similar ones. For myself, my thoughts are focused on three other truths I have observed from this episode.
Read more at: http://ongohing.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/rising-above-ground-self-and-country/
