I know there is another thread on the rescue, but I didn't want to take away from word on the rescue and aftermath itself.

Anyway, I truly believe that the world has been changed by this. I can't figure out all the ways, and some are pretty obvious...but I shall try to enumerate some. I think all are pretty positive...so far...there will be adjustment problems etc. no doubt.

1. The whole world watched on TV and internet. This is a powerful occurrence that does not happen often..Princess Diana's wedding and funeral, Michael Jackson's death, Chernobyl, Katrina, .
2. There was a happy ending, in a time where the world has been under great strains..natural disasters and wars and financial collapses. We need optimism.
3. A country that those of us in admittedly chauvinistic countries probably had underestimated pulled this off..with international cooperation, but also through its own coordination and expertise. I asked myself what my stereotype of Chile was before..good soccer players, plucky people, good agricultural specialists and fishermen..but I did not think of them in terms of engineering etc. I do know, because I work in agricultural support..that they..some of them at least..comply with what markets want..if Japan say wants an apple that is blue on the bottom and smells like roses, they will find a way to produce it for that market. We on the other hand..in USA..some of us..have a mindset that is they can't tell us how to grow apples..we have been growing apples this way for 200 years. That is a silly request...we don't think all their pesticide regulations are reasonable..we will find another market. The Chileans will go ahead..I can't speak for the country..but again I think some..would create a blue apple that smelled like roses. They are formidable competitors.
4.   All sorts of religious and spiritual stuff...Lazarus and the resurrection and born again. But I was just reading something I had not thought of...the ride up the shaft was like what people in near-death experiences have described..going through the tunnel and seeing the brilliant light...
5. The importance of marriage and family and fatherhood. Who, seeing that little son of the first guy up, would say that fathers are not important..and people do..HOpefully more respect for their role will come from this, as well as respect for the hard and dangerous work men all over the world do for their families.
6. Technology has changed us..miners will have more hope, and more expectations of safety. Owners will know that men can come out alive and will talk. No secrets will be buried with them.
7. Politics -- the president of course has his critics, but to an outsider, he seemed pretty darned good. He allowed the operation to be filmed and anything could have happened..a heart attack, a stuck tube, a collapse..I think this will lead, now that people have seen transparency in such an operation..to more transparency in other political and government areas.

Well, that is all for now. mg