Reality Check

For the past 18 days we have lived on edge with the unknown regarding the miners. At first everyone's question was "Where are they?" and as the days went on that question seemed to fade away and new ones took its place. "Are we ever going to get their bodies out?" "Is the mine safe to go into and do a rescue?" "Are they alive?" "What can be done to find out what happened?" So many questions and so little answers and so little information.

Now the harsh reality check is--- When is it enough and when is it time to move on? My answer to that is this ---Now. It has been 18 days since this whole tragedy started and it is time to let the healing begin not only for those directly involved but for the whole community as well. The things I have to say are to the point and are not meant to demean the situation or the feelings, but they are things that need to be said and dealt with.

I am really irritated with the families of the miners right now. I understand that their loved ones are in the mine and I understand that is hard but this is where the reality check comes in. Do you really think that those guys are still alive? Do you really think that they ever made it past the initial cave-in and the concussion of the cave-in? What do you think you will find when you get in there IF you can get in there?

So here is my reality check for people. Every hole that has been drilled has come back with results that the area could not sustain human life. there is little oxygen and no food and a TON of coal. There is no way that those men are down there alive and there bodies are underneath that pile of coal that everybody is seeing.

To send rescuers in there is RIDICULOUS it is way too unsafe. Going in underground just isn't going to happen and to drill a hole in 2000 feet of rock, dirt and more coal isn't going to happen either. That mountain is moving and there are bumps or bounces recorded all of the time. To send somebody down in a capsule would take WAY too long. It would take weeks to drill the hole, it would take 1 hour to lower somebody down into the mine and 1 hour to pull them up. They only have 3 hours worth of air and going down they have to have full mine rescue gear on. Some had asked how long it would take to build a capsule that would fit more than one person, Are you SERIOUS? You have to BUILD a whole new capsule that would take months! And then what happens if the mountain moves while you have somebody down there and then they become stranded also. Do you really want to chance that? The mountain is moving enough that the holes that have been drilled are already caving in and crumbling.

I understand that they want their loved ones out, but sometimes you don't always get that luxury. The people who had loved ones killed on September 11 wanted their loved ones also, but there was no way they could since some of them basically disintegrated. There are families that have sent loved ones off to war and never heard from them again. They wouldn't be the first people to never get their loved ones back and the won't be the last. I agree that Mr. Murray should never have said what he said about getting the miners our dead or alive, but that was said at a time when rescuers had not been killed because of the instability of a mine.
My point is this, I know that the families want their loved ones back, but by acting the way that they are they are telling the members of those rescuers who died that their sacrifice just wasn't enough and they want more. What more is there to give?

Now I have one comment to these people that are putting together benefits to raise money for the families. A lot of them are having cowboy poetry for the entertainment so they need to listen closely: Just because we live in hickville does not mean that everybody enjoys cowboy poetry! I know that all of them read my blog so I am sure that they will no longer plan these types of events.