Chile: A Lesson To The World About Fear
Like the rest of the world I watched with rapt attention and welling emotion as the last, heroic Chilean miner was lifted from the collapsed mine after being trapped for 69 days. Defying logic and the odds, all 33 men survived an unimaginable nightmare and did so with both grace and dignity intact.
Two thoughts come to mind. 1) There are no accidents, and, 2) there are only two emotions, love and fear.
I have always been a believer that everything happens for a reason… even those things that seem to make no sense at all. For while we may not be able to make sense of some events or personal experiences, everything that happens offers the potential for growth. This is Life.
And so, in a world adrift economically, politically, and socially… 33 miners show us how to defy the odds, rise above limitation and scant resources, and accomplish the impossible.
But there’s more.
What the recent rescue teaches us is the power of Love. In a world so long enamored with the love of power, this is a much needed lesson.
The people of Chile are apparently of hearty stock, with an indomitable spirit, national pride, passion for life, unshakable belief in God, and comfort with the expression of emotion regardless of gender. Love of life, love of country, love of one another and love of God.
And the complete absence of fear.
I did not hear or see fear anywhere. Not among the trapped miners, not by the President of Chile, not by the waiting family members who camped out in the desert for months on end. Fear was absent in Chile and in the absence of fear, miracles occur.
There are no accidents. What we have witnessed in Chile is a lamp unto the nations… the hand of God… reaching out to guide us in the direction of all that is good.
May we pay attention, set our intentions, and proceed with unbridled love.