Aug 20 2007
Job thoughts as hope fades in the Utah mine collapse
The news from Utah has been bleak, as the fourth hole drilled to find the missing miners gave poor indications of their survival. That couple with the unstable mountain that has claimed the lives of three rescuers has all but removed hope, not just of rescuing them, but of finding them at all.
Hope All but Extinguished at Utah Mine
Six coal miners caught in a cave-in may never be found and could forever be lost to the still-quivering mountain, officials conceded Sunday, abandoning the optimism they’ve maintained publicly for nearly two weeks.
Air readings from a fourth hole drilled more than 1,500 feet into the mountainside found insufficient oxygen to support life, and the latest efforts to signal the men were again met by silence.
“It’s likely these miners may not be found,” said Rob Moore, vice president of Murray Energy Corp., co-owner of the Crandall Canyon Mine.
The news marked a shift in tone in mine officials’ assessments of the chances the men would be rescued, hopes they had maintained even after three rescuers were killed and six more hurt Thursday in another “bump” inside the mountain.
My prayers to them and their families.
As I thought about the miners I have to wonder what type of person would choose such a scary job. I readily admit that there is no way i would ever do such work, I don’t have even close to enough nerve to do so.
But the miners are like many of us, we do the jobs we can to make a living. Indeed, there are many jobs like mining that are almost hereditary in nature, as each generation follows in the footsteps of the preceding.
I am sure some of the people working in this nations mines never considered doing anything else.
I cannot fathom it, but then again, watching Dirty Jobs on TV provides me with a lot of jobs I would shudder and decline to do.
Or would I? I look at the jobs I have done, and I wonder:
I have been a: paper boy, fast food burger maker, bus boy, truck washer, dish washer, furniture deliveryman, car washer, electronics assembly tech, shipping and receiving clerk/driver, amusement park ride operator, flower delivery driver, security guard, pizza cook, bartender, book store clerk, grocery bagger, custodian, auto parts driver, truck driver, camera salesman, wedding photographer, grocery stocker, computer salesman, inventory operations manager, 777 assembly mechanic,and a few more. Just in the last 7 years I have done computer help desk, enterprise support, trainer, support analyst, technical writer, operations analyst, domains analyst and a gas station/mini mart clerk. My military career included C5 And C141 crew chief, flight control, landing gear, cargo door and throttle mechanic, wheel and tire mechanic, tool issue clerk, technical manual monitor, vehicle monitor, crash team member and disaster preparedness member, dock inspector, shop mechanic and even a reparable parts manager.
So I look at all the things I have done and it reminds me that when the chips are down, having a job is generally more important to me then being too picky about which one. Maybe if I had less options, I would be in their shoes.
I have done nothing as dangerous as those fool crab boat guys on Dangerous Catch, or those drivers on Ice Road Truckers. I’ve not faced hostile fire in my military career as modern military people do.
So while my career, my portfolio of things I’ve done may be mundane, it is still something I am generally proud of, even the mini mart clerk.
Because all along I have been willing to do what I can to keep my family in house and home.
Back to the miners. My hat’s off to them and all the others millions that do the crazy and dangerous things on a daily basis. I cannot fathom their lives and motivations, and candidly I cannot do what they do. I do not run the risks you do either. My most dangerous element to my job is carpal tunnel and a sore neck.
But somehow all of these diverse jobs interlock into a world that works. We are interconnected in ways you may not see, but they exist. In the end we all do it for the same reason. Clothes and food for our families, a place to live and nice things to enjoy in our lives.
It is just some of those lives are lost to do those jobs, and we rarely think about that…
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