It's ironic that someone on CNN called the recent rescue of the soccer team in Thailand as "the Apollo 13 of cave rescues", because I'd also thought of Apollo 13 during the saga of the Thailand drama.
It is amazing what human beings can accomplish via sheer force of desire. Like the boys being rescued in Thailand -- via forced into dangerous cave diving that some experienced divers cast severe doubt on as being scarcely possible for the inexperienced -- the three astronauts of Apollo 13 making it back to Earth safely was due to a vast network of hundreds, if not thousands of people, all wanting the same outcome. Plus, millions more sending thoughts and wishes for the ultimate well-being of the astronauts.
I was 7yo when the Apollo 13 incident happened. My mother was an avid believer in the space program, and when I emerged from my bedroom to the kitchen one morning, to prepare for school, my mother was red-eyed, which was highly unusual. She was unable to show emotion concerning situations close to her, but could be amazingly compassionate about situations that didn't directly involve her. She had been listening to the radio and explained that there had been a problem on the Apollo 13 spaceship, and while they were going to try to slingshot around the moon to get back, her maudlin tone made it clear that the astronauts were probably doomed.
I don't remember any other details from that time, but I did always know that the astronauts made it back safely. So, when the movie Apollo 13 hit theaters in 1995, I was eager to see it. I enjoyed it greatly, and thought it particularly well done for a story where everybody already knows the ending. I've probably seen it a dozen times since then. The idea of so many people being so dedicated to the same outcome -- one that only helps and doesn't hurt anyone else -- it something wondrous to behold.
That is how it feels, once again, with so many wanting to help get the boys in the Thailand free. Things that many thought were not possible -- especially the highly experienced cave divers who would know best -- turned out to indeed be possible.
On a less dramatic note, it was the same sort of thing when American Pharaoh won the Triple Crown in 2015 -- the first since Affirmed in 1978. Though horse racing is a competition, everyone wanted the same outcome. People associated with other horses in the Belmont Stakes that year admitted that once they saw that their own horse had no chance to win, they joined the vibrating stands of the 90,000 in the stands -- and many more watching throughout the world -- in cheering on American Pharoah to his historic victory.
I am very big on honoring independent thought. That the best life is had from honoring one's own connection to All That Is, and discarding what others insist one should do, think, or feel. When those who have their own connection -- their own sense of self, their own self-confidence in their belonging to All That Is -- all have a similar thought about what they want to happen, the outcome can be so amazing.
And such was the glorious result of the rescue from the cave in Thailand.
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