Thirtysomething

Sago

When I was a little girl, we would occasionally go to upstate New York for long weekends in the Fall. While we were really going there to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, we also would visit the Catskill Game Farm and Howe's Caverns. I love Howe's Caverns. The idea of underground caves did and still does fascinate me. In fact, a few years back, I dragged my ex-boyfriend there for a weekend trip.

I went to college in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. Most of Lackawanna County has been in an economically stunted state since the coal mines closed back in the 1960s. During my time there, I visited the Lackawanna Coal Mines. It was a moving experience.

I seem to have an affinity for coal miners. I'm not sure if it's because of my fascination of all things underground, or because miners seem to be built from a different stock. They do dangerous work, but unlike police officers or firefighters, they aren't hailed as heros. It appears, at least on the surface, that miners haven't changed much in the last 100 years. While I'm sure there have been advances in their technology, a miner exiting a mine today doesn't look much different from ones in the beginning of the last century. Still wearing coveralls, still strapped in, still with a latern (albeit electric now), still dirty. I have great admiration for these men, because to me, they are reminiscent of a different era. Remember old photos in school textbooks of men who were laying railroad across the country? It's kind of like that. That in today's day, men would still have to go underground and mine for a power source seems a bit odd and outdated. But that's what they do, and I respect them for that. By and large, these seem to be hardworking, family men.

After a bad decision to go out last night to watch the Penn State game, bad only because it kept me up past my bedtime, I was glued to CNN until about 2 a.m. News had broke during the game that the 12 miners were found alive and the crowd had burst into applause, so when I got home I watched more coverage. Even then something didn't seem right to me. Why weren't reporters closer to the scene? Why was only one ambulance leaving the site? Regardless, I was very pleased that these miners were alive--earlier reports had made the likelihood of that outcome seem impossible.

Of course, I awoke this morning to hear that 12 of the 13 were actually dead. The governor of West Virginia said it best this morning "We thought we had 12 miracles. It turns out we only have one."

How sad for them, for their families, for that community.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 8:42 AM