It is the story in a chapter of patience, wisdom, courage, persistence, faith, hope, love, camaraderie and brotherhood.
In this reassembling of shattered pieces back into a whole-unified-denouement, Act One belongs to the miners, who never gave up hope, never lost faith, never turned on each other, worked to keep themselves and each other alive and sane for seventeen long days at the expense of lots of personal sacrifices, working like a well oiled wheel to find an escape route out of the mine where they'd been buried alive which helped them to eventually find a way to communicate to those above ground that they were all alive but needed help to exit the mine.
Playing significant roles in their own and in each other's survival, one became the, "house doctor," whose job it was to keep them in as good a health as it was possible for him to do; another became the, "technician in charge of communication," another became the, "master of ceremonies, entertaining the group while guiding them into Elvis Presley sing-a-longs;" another became the, "fitness and exercise trainer," another still became, "a spiritual director," or "prayer leader," for the group. They were all lead by the wisdom, guidance and direction of their knowledgeable and, it seems, intuitive leader who helped them keep their sanity against all odds, their physical strength against very depriving conditions and circumstance, and their "chin up," at a time when many would have just given up. It is the story of a true leader who tended to the care of the men under his charge.
It is the story of men who could have easily given up in their quest to find the oxygen of life but who, by a struck of luck or the Grace of God persevered long enough to find a way out of the horrible nightmare they had been living.
This story is as much about a right-wing President with a heart who did not give up on helping the buried miners find a way out once he knew they were alive, as much as it is a story about the miners who organized themselves into a productive community of hope to keep themselves alive.
This is the story of a man, Sebastian Pineira, who valued the life of the men buried in a mine and of their grieving families over class status and employed the resources of his government to rescue the life of said miners.
This is the story of a man who recognized in the last miner to come out the makings of a true leader: a captain who did not abandon ship until every man in his charge had made it to the surface.
It is the story of two leaders who came face to face and saw themselves reflected in each other. It is the story of two leaders who put aside the class separating them and embraced the human nature connecting all mankind.
This is a story of Grace. Faith, and the number "33."
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