Chilean miners bring a lesson for all of us from the bowels of the earth

THOSE who say there is never any good news have been confounded.

The television images of the 33 miners emerging from the cage of the Phoenix into the arms of their families and the Chilean president were profoundly moving. In a world plagued by terrorism, poverty, disease and natural disasters, the pictures of the amazing rescue operation of those trapped in the copper and goldmine will probably go down as this decade’s best loved story.

It’s no wonder the international 24-hour news channels found the story of the men confined to their accidental prison so consuming, many flying their top anchors to report from the site. Every one of us has tried to imagine ourselves in the position of the men trapped below the earth, confined to the same dark place with the same group of people for nearly three months.