Authorities at Camp Hope have had to deal with a rush of women coming forward claiming to be first in the Chilean miners’ affections in order to receive government handouts. At least five wives have been forced to come face to face with mistresses whose existence was kept from them by their husbands, who have been trapped more than 2,300ft below since a cave in on August 5. One miner has four women fighting over him in an effort to claim compensation offered to the families of those facing between three to four months underground until a rescue shaft can reach them…. “There has been a lot of conflict between women,” admitted Marta Flores a Red Cross worker at the makeshift camp where relatives wait for news of their loved ones.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m as thrilled as anyone that the 33 Chilean miners were rescued in almost miraculous fashion. As you might imagine, though, the story is only just beginning now that they’re all at the surface. Any time money is involved, you can better that the better angels of those involved will be…nowhere to be found. Human nature being what it is, greed appears to have a large early lead.
I’m not in a position to comment on how others live their lives, and I don’t care if any of the miners were buggering goats prior to being trapped underground. Still, it’s hard not to admire the Schadenfreude involved with the bimbo eruption taking place at the surface while the miners were still 2,000 feet under ground. Damn…somebody’s got some ‘splainin’ to do….
A lot of people are rushing to declare the miners heroes, and I’m not going to argue the point. Still, in the rush to mythologize these folks, I find it interesting that it turns out that they’re just like you and me: dishonest, fallible, prone to thinking with the wrong head, and morally compromised. Go figure….
Meanwhile, I’m thinking that a few of the miners might just be trying to figure out if they can get back into the capsule and return to the bat cave….
