Chilean Miners See Light

For whatever reason, I am far more affected by this event than I would have ever expected. Maybe its because we were in Chile when the mine collapsed, or because I fell a little bit in love with the Chilean people and their spirit...I don't know exactly. But I do know that I am watching - riveted, along with the entire country of Chile, as every last miner is brought of the dark shaft they've called home the past two months. Mucho amor, hombres inspiradores.

Last night was silent. No cars on the streets. Every Chilean was sitting in front of the TV set and waiting to see the first face emerging from the bottom of the earth.

Hope was what we all were feeling. Only hope.

A technological device, a system designed to lift human beings that are at the bottom and bring them up is a powerful image. It is what we would like our socioeconomic system to be able to do with the poor. What we have been watching is somewhat linked to that dream, I think.

Of course, the most impressive moment was when the capsule Phoenix 2 appeared up there. Then it gradually went down and gently, tentatively, with shyness touched the floor of the hard rock.

Technology + poetry = humanity.

The first miner, Florencio Avalos, appears--like a newborn. His kid and wife are there. He hugs them. He looks fine. After 68 days under the Earth, his eyes, with sunglasses though, are the first to look up at the stars.

And we feel, with old Dante, that on this night in Chile, love moves the sun and all the other stars.

Sometimes, after all, life is as it should be.

 Read more:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/10/13/fontaine.chile.miners/index.html?hpt=C1

Wisdom from Reader's Digest

My wonderful mother gifts me with a subscription to Reader's Digest every year. As silly as it may seem, I actually really enjoy it. As a kid, RD was one of those things that came in the mail that was actually interesting to me. Finding that little thick rectangle in a stack of bills was always a reward for fetching the mail. So I read it. Still.

A quote from a recent issue I just had to share:

"The only reason to be in a long-term relationship with another adult is to have someone to laugh with. That's it. Because you can always hire someone to put in windows."