THE CHILEAN MINE RESCUE

Mining is a dangerous business, even in modern times. And plenty of other people are killed in natural disasters of one kind or another. Yet it is hard not to be caught up in the rescue of 33 miners, who had spent a record-breaking 69 days underground, after a cave-in had trapped them 622 metres below the desert in Copiapo, Chile. There was something extraordinarily uplifting about it. Many of the miners felt it had been the work of God; but to me it showed the capability of the human spirit. Chile's President was surely right when he said that the country will never be the same again. Would that that same spirit was more on display in other parts of the world; as humanity, we need it.

Walter Blotscher