A miracle happened this week – 33 miners were rescued after 69 days being stuck underground.
Unless you too have been stuck somewhere underground for over the last two months, you will have heard of this story.
Millions of people watched around the world as each man came up to be met rapturously by their loved ones. Many tears of joy were shed – and I guess the party in Chile is still going on.
Did you cry too?!
I did and it’s okay to admit that you did so too. You and I are only human after all. One can never be failed to be moved by such human stories.
So a happy ending all around and really wonderful for the families of the 33 men who less than 3 months ago had given up their loved ones as literally dead and buried underground.
There is so much we can learn from this story of human survival, sheer guts and endurance. I can’t even imagine what those men went through in the first 17 days before the rescuers made contact.
What would you do if you were trapped underground for 69 days?
We really have to admire these 33 men and also all the many people who came together to get them out.
A lot of other countries helped with the rescue attempt and it was a truly global effort.
But here’s the thing – for me the tragedy is that the world doesn’t seem to come together when the events are not played out in the global media spotlight.
For a while, as the drama in Chile developed, it was almost like a watching a TV reality show with all the wall to wall coverage and especially so over the last few days as the men were about to be finally rescued.
What can the world achieve if other “less sexy” events were to be given equal prominence?
My thoughts were summed up by this poignant message from Marianne Williamson on her Facebook page, soon after the first few men had been brought to the surface:-
“Deeply grateful about the Chilean miners rescue operation going so well. Cried like everyone else as I watched men arriving on the surface. At the same time, I marvel with sorrow at how 33 men trapped in a mine can inspire such compassionate action from the entire world, while 17,000 children starving every day gets a sort of “Too bad, but what can you do….?” attitude in comparison.”
Every life is just as precious, be it 33 rescued men in Chile or the 17,000 children starving to death everyday around the world.
And yet, what’s really happening is that we live in a world where we have become despondent about true change.
- We standby and we wait for others to do something. We resign to nothing changing and we say to ourselves – who are we to make it happen?
- We gorge ourselves on junk food and then wonder why we get so ill, fat and run down. We then resort to all kinds of drugs.
- We sit in front of a television set and then spend a fortune trying to lose our flab and to look good again.
- We spend endless hours surfing the net, emailing each other and on social media, and yet we don’t really talk to each other anymore.
- We invade and bomb other countries, sell arms to all the fighting factions and then offer these same countries aid and investment to rebuild.
- Our companies focus on their bottom line and on selling us more unwanted stuff, without a care for the long term impact of their activities.
- Our children and the youth of today spend hours playing mindless video games rather than exploring the huge bounty that nature offers us
Okay – before you shoot me down, maybe I am exaggerating my points.
Or am I really going over the top?
Isn’t this the way the world would appear to be today?
And yet, I live in hope. We are a remarkable and resilient species and if anyone can make our world a better place, we can.
You are capable of being remarkable being your wildest dreams. And it’s going to take each one of you to be remarkable to make it happen for a better world.
Those 33 men rescued from the mine will always see their lives in a new way with fresh eyes. They have been given a fresh start.
You too can today start your life fresh and anew.
So here’s my challenge to for today – start fresh and do something remarkable in the next 69 days to change the world!
Commit to doing one thing that will stretch you and which will leave a lasting impact on the world around you.
Whatever it is you do, make it big and significant – why play small?!
Remember, feel the fear and change the world anyway.
Please share below just what you will do for yourself and the world in the next 69 days.
You owe it to the world and those 33 rescued men:-)
Thank you
Image courtesy of jurvetson
Hi Arvind!!!
One thing that I’ve been doing for several months is to make it a conscious effort to smile or say hello to strangers that I make eye contact with and to say thank you or yes please or have a good day, night, weekend, etc with those I interact with like at a store.
I also am currently looking into volunteer activities that work with people different than those that I have already worked for. Once my health is better, I plan to do that.
Take care,
CC
Hello again CC!
Smiling at others and thanking them from the heart is certainly one way of being remarkable – purely because most people don’t do these things.
Be well and good lucj with the volunteering activities:-)
Wishing you all the best.
You are right about this world which in the beginning was created beautifully, but unfortunately due to man’s greed and irresponsible attitude, it is now in a MESS!
Therefore as a ‘minute and tiny speck’ member of this world, I will commit myself to be responsible for everything I do and say. And that one thing I want to do is to truly love others as
1 Corinthians 13 : 1 – 3 teach us :
” If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. ”
and verse 13 says :
” And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. ”
Thank you, Arvind for this reminder and challenge to each of us to make this world a better place and truly a home.
Thanks Alex for sharing those wonderful verses and for publicly committing that you will be reponsible for what you do and say.
Wishing you all the best with your efforts to MOH – make others happy:-)
Arvind,
I did cry, too.
I will commit to donating books to children and helping to fund children literacy. Thanks for the motivation.
Alex
Alex, I just retrieved your comment from my spam folder!
Glad that you cried too last week when the miners were released.
And it’s great that you are doing something to help improve child literacy:-)
Arvind,
I agree with you 100%. That’s why I don’t watch those media circus events!
Yes, I care and am deeply touched by the rescue of the miners, but as you said there are so many other things going on in the world that deserve our attention that their rescue is just another distraction from taking care of all the other problems. We have 100s of television stations all looking for content 24/7, and all vying for our attention which results in the media circus type events. If one station does it and their ratings go up – then all the other stations jump on the bandwagon and then before you know it – we might as well have only one TV station because they’re all showing us the same thing.
The best thing anyone can do is TURN OFF THE TV! Television is a waste of precious time and life. If you’re watching someone else on TV – you’re not living your own life. I know this sounds harsh, but just think of all the hours wasted in front of the TV that you could be doing something with your life! And reality TV – don’t even get me started!
To me – the Easy Button to greatness is turning off the TV!
Angela, I love it when you say that “the Easy Button to greatness is turning off the TV!”
It is so rare that the media gets such a human story and it seems that even all the internet news sites were giving that story blanket coverage.
And you right – last week they could have probably just got by with one TV channel! As for reality TV, surely people have better things to do with their time?!
Anyway, time to be remarkable – the only downside is that one day they might make TV programmes about you!
I am so in sync with the other commentators here. Although I certainly have my addiction to Web-surfing, I do not have a TV. So I heard about the rescue and was so happy about it, but I wasn’t glued to the sofa; I was at a volunteer training. I’m not saying that to toot my own horn. But I live in the United States, and it occurs to me that all of those people sitting on their sofas in this country, watching those remarkable men be rescued, were probably sitting less than a mile away from someone who needed rescue as well. While their eyes were glued to the screen, people in their own communities were suffering. And in the larger global human culture, there is unimaginable suffering.
We are here to rescue ourselves and each other. To be our own heroes. Mother Theresa was a poor nun. Ghandi and Martin Luther King were a couple of middle-class guys who could have had really comfortable lives. And they all started by working in their own communities. They are us.
Phyllis, welcome to the world of surfers who don’t have a TV!
As you say whilst people are watching resuce stories on their screens at home, there are coutnless things they could instead focus on to improve things in their communities.
Great role models you have mentioned – Mother Theresa, Gandhi and Martin Luther King – what more do we need to go out today and be remarkable?
I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot recently. I’d like to do something big and great to benefit others. While my blog is outwardly focused, most of my other projects are not.
I reject Alex’s idea that the world is a mess, by the way.
When I still considered myself a Christian, I used to listen to a pastor whose catchphrase was “With God’s help, you can begin again.” I’m not sure if we need God’s help or not, but we can all begin again. I’ve already done it more than once.
Good job bringing up this topic, Arvind.
Gip
Welcome again to my blog, Gip.
Great that you want to do something big and great to benefit others.
And we can indeed all begin again, no matter what our faith or indeed whether or not we believe in a god.
By the way, just like you, I too don’t believe that the world is a mess. It’s a beautiful world if only we care to see it that way.
The celebration of their rescue takes on meaning for us all beyond just experiencing joy at their happy event by allowing that to be an inspiration in our own lives. I am glad it inspired you to write this and I am in turn inspired to make a positive difference in the life of someone else today. 🙂
Emma, thanks for your kind words – and great that you are inspired to make a positive difference in the life of someone else today.
Blogging inspiration can come from all sorts of events in our life and from the bigger world too.
Let the joy of the rescue of the miners indeed be an inspiration for our own lives.
I will relax consciously. If I figured correctly the 69 days ends on Christmas eve
When I am relaxed I am more sensitive and aware. XD.
.
Jeanne, happy relaxing, all the way to Christmas and beyond.
And enjoy Japan!
Hi Arvind,
I don’t have TV on the boat, and don’t read the newspaper..so I knew of the men, but didn’t see the entire coverage…When I went to work, a co-worker thought I needed to see the videos of each man coming out of the capsule..I made it through the first one and my heart hurt..
I’m glad you shared as you did..raise consciousness if you may..
My first thought as I watched the one man come out was wow..if anyone thinks they are ‘stuck’ in life, this sure puts it in perspective. Granted I work at a hopsital, so that’s a perfect place for perspective..
I then thought of all of the miners who were caught in the US and didn’t make it..of all of the homeless people in my city who don’t have a meal or shelter, of those who come to the hospital just for a bed and hot coffee…
I celebrate the miners joy, but I cannot find perspective in a society that somehow is captivated by a social event but can turn their heads as they walk by the man on the street..
I do my part, and you do yours..and together we all make a difference..let’s raise the quantity of those who stand with us so the difference is huge…
Thank you Arvind for expressing this as well as you did..
Joy, thanks for sharing your perspective about the trapped miners.
What great lessons and metaphors for our life they have given us.
But as you say, it’s hard to understand and even accept why we can turn a blind eye to someone in need in our own neighbourhood and yet we are captivated by such drama in another continent.
Thinking about all the people who were not so lucky or who are going through some tough times and being neglected makes you realise we can all do so much more.
Let’s all do our part – and together we CAN all make a difference.
Hey Arvind,
What a terrible accident. I heard about those miners getting stuck, but luckily so many of them were rescued.
It’s incredible how strong people can be and how long someone can survive if they really want to live.
Thanks for sharing!
Diggy, people never fail to surprise me with their resiliance, strenght and determination.
Those miners – what amazing role models for all of us!
Hi Arvind,
This is lovely. I hate TV and probably have it on for about an hour a week, but I do spend time on social media and find 2 hours have gone by looking at peoples pictures who I barely know anymore, what an utter waste of time!
I will stop this for the next 69 days (and hopefully more!)
Kate, wonderful idea to abstain from Facebook and other social media. It’s addicitive and also destructive as it takes you away from your purpose.
If one can choose a lofty life purpose and then dedicate themselves to it come what may, then there would be no room for wasting time on social media:-)
Kate, enjoy a remarkable 69 days and more.
I will learn to pass the exam for magistrates, in 10 january 2011
I realllyy wonna be a judge.
Congratulations Arvind for the article. You are my mentor from now on.
Coman, Romania
Welcome to my blog Coman – and I wish all the best with your desire to become a remarkable judge.
And thanks for your kind words:-)