Chile mine rescue triumph of human spirit

One by one, the miners emerged from the ground, through a narrow, twisting canal. Once feared lost, the 33 souls in Chile were, in a very real sense, being reborn.

They emerged into the arms of a proud nation that spared nothing to see them saved.

Their rescue - harrowing, meticulously well-executed - was a study in determination, renewal, celebration and hope.

And it could not have come at a better time. Because for a few hours, a complex and violent world submitted to the simplicity of pure happiness. A world torn apart by war, economic stress and divisive politics got a glimpse of unity. And it served to silence the noise of everyday living.

"It's one of those moments that knocks down everything that divides us," said Marlon Ramnarine of Sea Cliff. He and his wife, Lorena, a Chilean native, watched a live broadcast as miner No. 20 emerged.

"They, each of them, have a lesson for the rest of us," said Veronica Castillo of Babylon, also born in Chile. She was up until 2 a.m. Wednesday watching, and crying, as the first group of miners was plucked from the ground. "They had a determination to survive," she said, with a nod of her head. "In an instant, they were stripped of everything - of light, of their homes, of their families - and they stood together and survived. The lesson for the rest of us is to never, ever, ever take anything for granted because it can be gone in an instant."

Margarita Peña-Flores of Hicksville, a native of Chile, said that the rescue, which she called "God's miracle," has changed her life.

"I have cancer," she said, as her mother, Bertha Peña, looked on inside the San Antonio Bakery and Restaurant in Valley Stream. "You look at them and you look at their fight and I look to myself and I think that no matter what happens I can fight; I can always, always fight harder."

She paused to watch as another miner was pulled from the ground, to the cheers of the crowd in Chile. "We need this," Peña-Flores said, gesturing to a live TV Chile broadcast.

"This is so beautiful and so important because it reminds us," she said, "it reminds us all, of how precious life is."

"It shows that human spirit, the best of humanity that is in all of us," Ramnarine said. "I think sometimes we forget. The rescue reminds us to be compassionate. It reminds us that we can be compassionate."

"It reminds us to hug our children," his wife, Lorena, added. "It's reminds us that a normal life is a precious life, a lucky life."

Wednesday, across Long Island, almost everyone used the word "miracle" to describe what was happening thousands of miles away in Chile.

It was a triumph of the human spirit.

Thirty-three miners never gave up hope. Neither did a nation. Or a world, which lent technical and other assistance to the effort. The result was a rescue the likes of which has never been accomplished before.