i got an e-mail saying, the whole world is chilean. it struck the right note. the question is, what s next? when you have a big event like this, sometimes in the case of a tragedy, in this case a heart-warming miracle, the question is, what is the next chapter? how does the community change? how do the characters change? one miner who came up, mario acce sepulveda, he said, i want to be the miner, i want to be mario. i want to keep working. are these guys international celebrities now? i think it will be very difficult for them in a week or a month or two months. on august 5th they left the town of copiapo, where we are, they left to go out as miners on their shift. they ve come back in the last few days as heroes, as stars, as people who will be known for what happened to them, what they
hospital, the media will focus on three or four of them. some of that so-called stars, the most extrovert, such as mario accept ul va sepulveda, hl right for himself. others were quiet, team players. that was the key to their survival, team play, not individual play. they will go home. i ve just come from one miner s house just now. i had to take something to his wife. i went down a side street and there was their house. and the front of the house is probably about 12 or 15 feet across. and it s not very deep. it s a concrete floor. it s just a breeze block building without any paint on the side. a very rudimentary. i mean, these are working class men. and my fear is that a lot of the 33 will simply go back home, in a couple days and think, you know, i m back to what it was.
but she saw it on tv and she e-mailed and she said, there is nothing i can do in texas. i feel so helpless. what can i do to help these people and these poor women waiting for their men folk? so she came up with the idea that one of the miner s wives, her partner had proposed to her in a letter for a catholic wedding so donna in texas said, i know what i can do, i m a seamstress so i m going to make her the most beautiful wedding dress. she s now in that process. on top of that she goes down to the church every night and lights 33 candles. i think that s just a good example of how people went beyond the reality tv, this kind of morbid, voi you ueristic approaches. i don t know what yours were.