Guiding Light: India's Big Rescue Mision

A lot has been written about rescuing the 41 people who were trapped in the tunnel at Uttarkashi a couple of days ago. We experienced the euphoria of seeing all of them taken out of the tunnel in good shape. I would like to focus on some of the values that contributed to the whole thing. It is great to have technology and we had some of the best in technology. But the machines and tools are only as good as the people who use them. As we saw, technology broke down. Machines let us down but the human spirit, especially the spirit of the rat-hole miners, overcame all obstacles.

So, if there is one lesson in this, it is how the human spirit with the grace of God can overcome almost anything. To focus on the people who were trapped, their trust in God, their trust in the rescuers, their courage, their patience when the rescuers met one setback after the other, are worthy of emulation when things go wrong in life.

Shifting focus to the rescuers — their trust in God led to a temple that was demolished to be rebuilt, to win the grace of the Lord. The rescuers showed courage, fortitude, and proactive thinking when they met setbacks, the care they had for their workers trapped. This was evident right from the PMO’s office to the rat-hole miners; everyone exhibited all these qualities.

These values are not meant only for the rescuers or people who are involved in search and rescue. These are values that everyone needs to have. Hats off to the rat-hole miners, the real heroes who went into a confined place with gas cutters and shovels to excavate it all.

These are values that will help everyone, whether one is a monk or a warrior, or homemaker, or a corporate executive, a student or a retiree. These values have a spiritual side to them. It will do us all good to continue to cultivate these values that are not ordinary, by any means, in ourselves.

The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com.