Been quiet for a while, nothing but recession, economics ad nausea, and the usual natural disasters as well, flooding in Pakistan where millions have been, and still are badly affected. Well this week the world has focussed in on a good news story, where 33 men buried underground were all safely brought to the surface. Scenes of joy and love, and all conducted in the presence of the worlds media and beamed around the globe where billions of us were watching. Great.
It reminds me of a story in Plato of the Allegory of the Cave. There is a similarity in the condition of those 33 men living without the light and our own human condition where we live in a world of shadow, concentrating on the struggle for existence, our so called real world dominated by economics, rarely seeing the true nature of our existence. We are all living in a cave and we need rescuing. Plato saw it 2,500 years ago and attempted a rescue of sorts by pointing this out.
The story of the Chilean miners and their rescue hit a chord in us, reminding us of the joy of just being alive and being able to appreciate it.