The brave Chilean miners, los 33, have been safely brought home. Like most people I watched the miners emerge one by one. Each one greeted by tears and joyful, thankful family members. Each reunion would bring tears to my eyes. What struck me the most was how different things are there. The Chilean President was to greet each and every miner. He too had tears in his eyes each time. I couldn't help being a little cynical. The thought crossed my mind that politicians here would not stay for the whole time. They would be there for the first miner and the last miner. Those are the photo op ones. After the first miner is rescued, the politicians would scatter and not return until the final photo op arrived safely. The opposition here would be screaming about the cost, the environmental groups would be screaming that this is what they deserve. Mining is a danger to the earth and so on. I think it is official. I am a dark, jaded person.
In some ways I feel the Chilean people are much better off than we are. The government has said the cost of the mission was irrelevant. What was important was the rescue. Damn the money. Good for them. They all sang the National Anthem. With gusto and obvious pride of their country. I live in Canada. We don't do that. We shuffle our feet, look down and mumble the words. We don't spontaneously break into our National Anthem. Not even after winning a hockey game. This love and pride of country is something I find fascinating. I am also a little jealous of the love of country they all show.
 I also loved that so many of the miners would either drop to their knees and/or openly thank God for their rescue. All of this happened in front of the cameras. There was not some frantic producer there yelling to cut away or bleep/edit out any mention of God. No one said it was offensive to hear how their faith saved them during that horrible dark time. No one said you have to balance the mention of God with a mention from all other faiths. Nope they just rejoiced and most prayed right along with them.
Chile should be proud today. They showed the world they are a proud, hard working, God fearing family. When times are tough family pulls together. Just as Chile did!