For the last couple of weeks, I wake up each morning and walk downstairs to my computer. I launch Firefox and go to the Salt Lake Tribune website hoping to read good news about the miners. I continue to hold out hope that one of the bore holes will somehow find the pocket full of miners and his whole nightmare will be over. But each morning has been met with more delays, more equipment problems and more drilling. As an observer from over a thousand miles away, I can’t imagine what the families of the missing miners must be going through but it must be their own version of hell on earth.
This disaster has opened up a world that I didn’t want to believe existed. We don’t hear about these jobs or terrible working conditions until a tragedy shines light on a world few people understand. Watching the interviews with the spouses and children of these miners drives home the fact they are attempting to make a life of their own and support their family, just like the rest of us. Nearly all admit they are drawn to the mine because of the good wages. Few of them have much education and most are second or third generation miners.
The first national press conference that Robert Murray gave was a textbook example of how not to calm the relatives of the lost men. I was so angry watching him drone on about global warming and suspect earthquake activity when all these families wanted to hear was that he was doing everything he could to rescue their loved ones. It was a PR disaster that should have never happened. Yet over time I came to feel sorry for this guy. He’s clearly a miner at heart and doesn’t possess the skills to deal with the media frenzy that suddenly dropped on his world. If any good came out of that first interview it’s that, going forward, federal officials will manage future press briefings.
I hope the miners passed away quickly and didn’t have to endure days of darkness and cold without much food or water. And I really hope that changes are put in place that improve the working conditions for these people who risk their lives each day as they climb into a maze of tunnels, thousands of feet below the earth’s surface.
Nordquist Blog 