Wednesday, January 04, 2006

So disappointing

The news. The game. Last night, after climbing into bed, I turned on the TV, flipping back and forth between the Sugar Bowl and the coal mining news coverage. The news was bleak, no one was expecting any survivors after forty hours trapped in the mine. The game was a defensive struggle, no one could move the ball, and when the Florida State quarterback was flagged for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety, Penn State went up 16-13.

Flipping back to news coverage, we learned that one of the miners had been found dead. Most likely, they reported, it was Terry Helms, whose son we had watched being interviewed earlier in the day, still holding out hope but letting the grim reality sink in that his father was probably not going to come out of that mine.

In the Orange Bowl, Penn State missed a game winning field goal with 30 seconds left, a miss which sent the game to overtime.

Meanwhile, MSNBC was reporting that all 12 of the remaining miners had been found alive. FOX and CNN were reporting that as well, and family members who had gathered at the church for the past two days were jubilant after hearing the news.

I woke Veev up, and we watched the news and the joy on the faces of family members as they talked about waiting and praying and miracles.

Florida State missed a field goal. So did Penn State, and back on the news, they were waiting for a press conference to announce that twelve of the miners were alive.

It was late, I didn't care who won the Orange Bowl, and didn't need to keep on watching coverage from West Virginia. The miracle had happened. Somehow, through the initial explosion and the carbon monoxide, these guys had made it.

Except for one thing. The miners didn't make it. While we slept, family members were told that 11 of the 12 miners were dead, and the one who had survived, Randall McCloy, was in critical condition. A miracle had happened deep beneath the surface of a West Virginia coal mine, but it wasn't the miracle we had all hoped for. It was only large enough for one.

8 Comments:

Blogger Jerusalemcop said...

baruch dayan emet

January 04, 2006 8:56 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

aah, they were all goyim.

January 04, 2006 8:57 AM  
Blogger Air Time said...

and your point is?

January 04, 2006 9:07 AM  
Blogger O's fan said...

I see you were quite interested in the football, too bad it was the Orange Bowl, not the Sugar Bowl. D'oh.

January 04, 2006 9:28 AM  
Blogger Air Time said...

oops. I have to admit I hate college football. And I must have got it mixed up because I was watching West Virginia in the Sugar Bowl the night before.

January 04, 2006 9:35 AM  
Blogger and so it shall be... said...

This morning, Drudgereport.com is raking the NYTimes over the coals for running the "survived" story on page 1.

Meanwhile, early this morning at 12 a.m., Drudge had his red flashing light trumpeting the miracle that took place.

I just couldn't believe what I was hearing when I flipped on the radio this morning

January 04, 2006 11:13 AM  
Blogger Just Passing Through said...

Man. I bought the paper on the way to work and spent the whole morning thinking they made it. My surprise came late morning when I turned on the TV channes on my PC at work...just very sad and it pains me that blame is already being pinned.

January 04, 2006 8:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

a miracle for one.

in the sense that it was a miracle that the earth collapsed killing the other 12.

January 05, 2006 1:59 AM  

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