The Deep Dark

Last night Finnegan had a very hard time getting to sleep and after
crying for about 15 minutes he settled down in my arms and I closed
my eyes shortly after he did.
Despite the fact that there was plenty of photography work needing my
attention, slumber found me and I was lucky to get nine hours of rest.

At 7:00 a.m. I bolted out of bed fearing that I would be late for my
physical therapy appointment which I cannot miss because my therapist
will kick me to the curb if I am a "no show." He's the best
therapist I've had in the past three years and I'm getting better.
Fear is a great motivator.

After slogging past teenagers on their way to school and early risers
out for their morning Starbuck's fix, I made it to my appointment
with two minutes to spare. I should have been relieved, but my mind
was thinking of the West Virginia miners trapped in the Sago Mine. I
wasn't able to hear about the final outcome last night because I fell
asleep with Finnegan and it occupied my thoughts.

Eric and I started with the usual chit chat, "How was your holiday?"
"How is the little Guy?" Etc, etc. Then he told me that he had been
watching the Rose Bowl last night and I said, "On a Tuesday? I
thought the Rose Bowl was on New Year's Day?" After a long story
about the changes in the college bowl system, coaches and getting
tickets to the UW football games, I mentioned that I was watching the
news of the WV miners. That's when he told me about the sad turn of
events.

As Eric told me that the initial report of 12 survivors was in error,
there appeared to be a sole survivor who was hospitalized and
unconscious. Sadness washed over me like a cool spill of water and I
suddenly felt very tired. I remembered my childhood marked by mining
accidents, close calls and one of the greatest mining tragedies in US
history. But my family was lucky because my father's last day in the
mines was one he could walk away from.

The 1972 tragedy in Kellogg, Idaho still haunts me and I guess it
always will. The Deep Dark takes many lives in the excavation of
fossil fuels, gem stones and precious metals and yet the work must go
on. It's relatively low paying wages for hazardous work that the
miners risk their lives generation after generation. Yet, there
aren't any easy answers to fix the situation.

"Safety first" signs dot the walls of the drying rooms and shift
shacks of a mining company. But these reminders are not heeded by the
Earth which cracks and heaves in the deepest recesses of the mine.
At any moment the Earth can shift and send tons of rock onto
unsuspecting miners as they toil away. It's not an easy life, but
someone has to do it because we need coal to fuel our power plants.
We need precious metals for photography, electronics, and
medications. Technology has advanced greatly, but we still have to
dig our resources out of the ground by human hands. I just wish the
miners didn't have to risk so much in doing so.