What lovely news to start this day! I was really hoping for a good ending.  So many times we are fed bad news but we are all energised by this positive story of hope and achievement in the face of adversity.  It’s an opportunity to celebrate pushing the bounds of human survival.  We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for.

From their first 17 days it is a tale of leadership and sharing when their only food was a spoon of tuna every 48 hours.  Lots of discipline and patience required so that they could collaborate for the good of all.   They created their very own motivator, counsellor and spiritual leader to help them cope physically, emotionally and spiritually.  It’s about the love of and for their families, friends and country that created this energising supportive cycle.  Of course there was also lots of hard work by highly skilled people who got the resources and political support they needed to carry out a top job.  (Somewhere in here is also the turning point for health and safety in mines in Chile, if not across the world.)

But that is the story so far.  It has all been miraculous and harmonious.  Now we come in.  How will we, through our media, start dividing the team as we offer different amounts of money to each depending on how interesting we find their story?  I imagine we don’t have the appetite for 33 stories but maybe 5 or 10?  How do we decide which human being is worth more?  Is it the youngest? Oldest? Union rep.? The new father? Etc.  It seems quite arbitrary and is a new game they need to figure out.  Yes this is a real human interest story and not something manufactured in a big house or jungle stay, so we are naturally curious.  But we could remember that they need space and time to recover from the trauma they have just experienced, and to rebuild relationships with their nearest and dearest.  Can we celebrate with them on their terms or have we got this insatiable appetite for all their news that must be fed now?