Resurface

I’ve been thinking about a particular phrase this week: going underground. For some, it connotes secrecy, subversion, and exploring alternatives. For others, it’s simply another day at work. Going underground.

In the stairwell between the miner’s lockers and the supervisor’s office at Mine 7, Svalbard, there’s a photograph of a sign that reads “Most important thing to come out of a mine is the miner.” There are 33 coal miners in China who will never come out of their mine again. They join so many others whose last days were just another day at work. Going underground.

This is Ted Hansen, who works at Mine 7, which has a beautiful view over mountains and tundra. I pray that all miners everywhere come away from work each day, back to the same view they started with. Beautiful or not, it’s the return journey that matters most.

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