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Through My Eyes... |
“I was with God, and I was with the Devil” Mario Selpulveda, rescued Chilean miner
Oct 13, 2010
By Cornelia Spelman
Let's "look and look" until we find those who need rescue.
Mario's statement, "I was with God, and I was with the Devil" seems especially apt on this day when our fellow human beings demonstrate the powers of Good--those hundreds of people working together to rescue the miners; the heroism of people willing to risk their own lives for the sake of others, like the first medic, Manuel Gonzalez, who descended into the mine to prepare the miners for their ascent--and then the power of the Devil, whose evil is evident across our world, in particular this day with the news of the severed head of a Mexican detective delivered in a suitcase.
What turns some of us to Good, some of us to Evil?
As a former clinical social worker, I could venture my professional opinion about a child who is loved and cared for and respected growing into an adult who continues to love, care for, and respect others--and a child who is abused, injured physically or emotionally, who continues to abuse others. (There are abused children who do not continue to abuse, because someone showed them another way was possible.)
This is not meant as an excuse, only as an attempt to understand, so that we see how crucial it is for each of us to try to be a rescuer of those lost "miners" we encounter in our own lives. The Chilean president said, to the 14th rescued miner, "We would never let you go -- we would look and look until we found you." Amen. Images: Manuel Gonzalez, first rescuer to descend into the mine, and the last person to leave the mine, upon his return; Manuel, bowing to the camera in the mine before he begins his final ascent; Manuel, awaiting the capsule which will return him to the earth's surface.
