Hope emerges in cave rescue

I hate reading the news. It comes up on my feed, and everything is dire, dire, dire, and disgusting, and what's the point? No wonder people are depressed. This world is a mess. I quit reading the newspaper for the most part. I skim headlines, read the happy news, and disregard the rest. I just can't...

But the Thai soccer team trapped in the cave was my exception. Water news always catches my attention. I've spent more than half my life in aquatics, so water? It calls to me and any information about water I tend to open, good or bad. I first came upon the cave article on the 10th day when they were discovered, and every day I thought of those boys. Every day I sought out the news on the impending rescue. I got people involved that knew nothing about it. When my cousin was visiting, we gathered around in a circle in the living room to read the latest, share, and speculate. Every few hours, we checked our phones for updated information.

The rescue itself? Unbelievable. If you haven't read any news on this topic, I implore you to do so. This, people, is what this world can do together. There were no threats, no back door deals, or changing hands of money. The Thai government reached out to the world's best, and they answered, volunteering their time, their knowledge, their equipment, and their lives to save twelve strangers.

More than one hundred and fifty rescuers were involved. They came from all parts of the world; Australia, America, England, Belgium, etc. They worked as a team devising a plan to remove those children from a harrowing route that would take hours. A doctor spent a week in the cave with the boys to prepare them. Thai's Seal team did the same, more bringing in supplies and food. Volunteers showed up at the cave to help in any way they could. Children volunteered as guinea pigs so that the divers could do a mock rescue in a pool before the big event. People showed up to help others and checked their egos at the door.

The rescue was terrific. It was at the time, but as more and more information trickles out, it makes me tear up. The plan. The involvement of so many. The risk the divers took. The parents waiting at the mouth of the cave. The danger of the cave. The boys' bravery. The success and the happy outcome. All of it, while those of us around the world waited, pulling for everyone involved.

These rescuers did not give up, and through this rescue, I've found hope. Hope that people won't give up on one another, hope that together we can perform miracles, and hope that this world isn't a lost cause.

A Chicago Post-Tribune article by Jerry Davich had one of the best lines to sum it up. Davich wrote, "Too many of us are trapped in a cave of some kind, with rising floodwaters of uncertainty in our world, drowning in animosity toward each other. At this moment in time, we have been rescued yet again from our fears and doubts about the human spirit."

Yep. Kudos to everyone involved in the Thai Rescue. Thank you. Thank you for what you did, what you accomplished, and for what you managed to do that our leaders and this world can't seem to do; work together for the common good to save others. Thank you.