Monday, August 30, 2010

Chilean tragedy: price of a human life

The grainy images brought a sigh of relief. It showed a bunch of Chilean miners buried nearly two thousand feet below were alive and  in good spirits given this could very well have been their grave, and for some before the ordeal is over, it could still be. Trapped in a small space breathing the stale air, sparse food, little water, and no light showcases to what extent we risk our lives to want for a better life. Most of the world does much care except watch it on TV as it makes good TV.  They will watch Beck rally, even participate in it rather than empathize with their plight. Same is the case of the millions uprooted in Pakistan.

It will take two to three months not weeks or days to get them. The human and psychological tool is incalculable. Even if a few perish, all they will get is a lump sum payment of a few thousand dollars. That's it. There will be no rallies, no taking back the country, no bringing back the honor.

Most nation in US and by default some parts of the industrialized world is now obsessed with an errant hurricane that could dent up the east coast. The damage could be catastrophic, it could be minimal. Impeding doom is much more thrilling than being buried in the earth. With all the technology in man's possession, drilling ocean floors. It will take more time to get to the miners than it did to breach the BP Oil well, there is something wrong with that.

Meanwhile 40 odd people live in dim lighting with a camera, sparse ration, and attitude to see through three long months. There is nothing anyone can and will do about it. There are ways to get to them faster, but why? These are no VIPs, they are just ordinary miners. Their life is worth less, anyone else could have fared better, and there in lies the rub.

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