The choice is really yours
When the miners were rescued from the Copiapó copper mine in Chile, their putative leader, Mario Sepúlveda (super Mario) explained the decisions that were made that allowed the men to get through their ordeal with as much grace and optimism as possible. In interviews after the rescue, Mario said that he felt as if he had faced the devil over the shoulder; God for the other. He had chosen to listen to God.
I don’t know if Mario meant it literally, but it’s a pretty good metaphor that deserves an examination.
We can see this as: GOOD vs. EVIL/HOPE vs. DESPERATION/ STRENGTH vs. WEAKNESS and so on and so on… you get the idea.
The men of the mine, when requesting the supplies they needed during their time underground, asked for, among other things, razors and toothpaste. Why razors? Why toothpaste? What difference could it make if they remained messy or had bad breath? Mario Sepúlveda understood that these personal care items could make a difference.
I guess what Mario knew, intuitively, was that routines, courtesies, and self-care allow us to hold on to our humanity, even in the most inhuman circumstances. It’s not about designer clothes or making a good impression. The point is that attending to our corporeal selves (which, of course, is connected to our psyche) reminds us that we all have intrinsic value. To paraphrase L’Oreal commercials, “…because we’re worth it.”
When these men shaved, brushed their teeth, shared what little food they had, they behaved “as if” they had a future beyond mine. I’m pretty sure this attitude led to other acts of self-preservation. Practiced daily, the men were reinforced in the belief that they would be freed. If they had fought over food, turned on each other, abandoned simple acts of grooming such as brushing their teeth, their collective mood would likely have plummeted and the outcome of their ordeal would have been much less enthusiastic than expected. that we witnessed as they left the mine.
Many of us have fallen into psychological black holes.
It’s hard for me to imagine what it would be like to literally be forced to live in one for 70 days. These men have reinforced, for me, my belief in the resilience and ingenuity that resides in each of us. If they refused to give up hope, why should we? If they could call on their courage and hold on to it for so long, isn’t that possible for all of us? When problems knock on our door, it’s common to feel weak, unprepared, and overwhelmed. When we meet our challenges, using our ingenuity and imagination, we rise above the ordinary and the hero that resides within us watches over us as we find our way out of the black hole into which we have fallen.
We all have the instinct to survive. One of our problems is that when life feels out of control, we often forget that we have that ally deep within us. During difficult times, we have a tendency to see our challenges as dense lumps that we can’t hope to move or penetrate. The truth is, regardless of the direction from which we approach our trials, one path leads to another, and even if we merely see a speck of light ahead, we succeed when we keep tunneling toward that light. The landscape we find when we go outside may not look like it used to, or like we would like it to look like, but once we’ve regained the ability to run, we have the opportunity to design something new…something that reflects the lessons we’ve learned. we learned we have learned during our struggle. We may end up with something unexpectedly amazing and beautiful.
Wisdom is gained through experience. We can gain knowledge from our schools and books, but wisdom is what we gain as we travel through our lives. No one applauds when a tragedy occurs. Our responses to unexpected negative events lead us to a greater understanding of who we are. Hopefully, this self-knowledge will lead us to greater compassion and understanding of others.
The tools we use to navigate our journey through life need to be continually updated, sharpened, and refined. We do ourselves a disservice when we go back to old platitudes that no longer have any real meaning. Unfortunately, in order to find ourselves and know who we really are, we must absorb pain, loss, and disappointment. The good news is that once we have known loss, unless we are numb, we will not take our joys for granted.
Join when you can. Laugh, shout and shout and do not worry about those who want to trample on your joy. Time changes everything. Always remember to head towards the light.