You'd think there'd be something to write about after a week off. In our reality TV world something breaks every fifteen minutes, right before the commercial break.
There are so many things to comment on our mainframe in corporate headquarters can't crunch the alphabet enough to cover it all in only 500 words, not even in 5000. It locked up the whole thing.
You didn't think this column was still written by a human did you?
This column has been produced by A.I. for years. With that other artificial intelligence taking over D.C. and most of the state capitals, what else could headquarters do?
They just keep old S.J. on retainer for appearances and emergencies. Like when the big computer locks up.
And no wonder. From lost children to supreme court nominations to vindictive governors to Russian meddling to a trade wars to assaults on tourists to newsroom massacres, how could anything choose which crazy news item gets priority over the other crazy news item.
It's system overload for the simple supercomputer in this situations. But not for S.J.
I took all those things and put them in the ignore pile.
There is only one story worth talking about. A story of human ingenuity and spirit, of cooperation and faith, of reaching for success when odds call for disaster.
When twelve boys and their coach were extracted from a flooded cave in Thailand, some of my faith in what people can do when they work together for a worthy goal was restored.
Imagine being trapped in a small dry space in a flooded cave for ten days with little food. Imagine not knowing if you'd be found before you drown or starve. Imagine being the only adult in a group of children in this situation.
Think about the volunteers who entered the flooded cave in scuba gear with no indication of survivors, who kept coming back for ten days searching. Think about them coming from all over the world to help when all looked hopeless.
Think about the planning, the process of teaching a group of hungry, lost kids to swim long distances underwater through dark narrow passages when the slightest mistake means certain death.
Think about a retired Thai diver who gave his life helping set up oxygen tanks for the rescue process.
Think about the ingenuity to pump the water, to partially dam and reroute inflow, and keep searching for a way when most of the ways fail. Think about all the ways the plan can go wrong.
The ways it could all go wrong were endless. Nevertheless, a handful of people working together pulled off a miracle. It wasn't divine intervention, it wasn't prayer, it wasn't blind faith.
It was human perserverance, human courage, human ingenuity and human cooperation that brought the thirteen out of the cave. Faith in one another is the greatest faith we can have.
When the tide of events locks us up, the world needs a reminder that people working together can make the impossible possible. These days, we Americans need that reminder most of all.