Goodbye Darkness

I used to be quite an avid caver, before they started making the caves so small, so I can close my eyes and easily project myself a half-mile underground and imagine the panic I would feel being trapped in stygian darkness for over two months. I also am climbing out of my own metaphysical hole right now and I wait patiently for that first glimpse of light above me that signifies the end of suffering, or at least the opportunity to take on new suffering. This has also been a year of darkness and pessimism for many of us. Oil seeping towards our cherished shoreline, mutual persecution and condemnation in our Us vs. Them nation, friends broke down, hurt, and healing.

These are some of my reasons for an unabashed fixation on the plight of the Chilean Miners now coming up out of the ground, returning from their trip to the river Styx. Like Theseus they will find that much has changed in the world. These men have been camped in my subconcious for months as their incredulous story carried on amidst the squawking chaos of everday life. I wonder if there will come a day when they wake up disappointed with the real world and find themselves missing the cave?

I know for me it means that when people care for one another they are capable of mighty things, and for that I thank those guys, the nation of Chile, and the Americans who drilled them out of there.

It is a good lesson

Juancho

7 Responses to Goodbye Darkness

  1. Preferably with dark sunglasses, at least for the first few minutes. I wonder if some simulacrum of the apparatus hoisting them to this bank of the Styx will soon be featured at a central Florida amusement park.