I agree!
DH's grandfather lived in mining country. The only decent jobs there were mining and the railroad. He picked the railroad, because back then, working in the mines was pretty much an early death sentence. If an accident didn't get you, lung disease would. He apparently preached at his children that the only way out of being limited to those two options (mining/railroad) was to go to college. So DH's father and siblings, born in the 20s and 30s, all went to college, even the daughter. That wasn't as common back then. Actually, one may not have finished college.....He went into WWII as a pilot and was a pilot afterward. But they all avoided the two "options" they'd been limited to before.
Every time I see some mining disaster like this, I can't help but be thankful for DH's grandfather and his insistence that his children do better than him and that they make sure they had more options.
I was trying to explain to DD what a miracle it is that those men even survived long enough to be discovered, let alone rescued. Nearly every time a mining accident happens, it ends tragically. This is the rare time there is a positive ending and those men get to go home to their families. It truly is a miracle.
