As I watch the Chilean miners rise from their emergency shelter into the spring sun and beaming faces of their loved ones via BBC.com/news coverage, I keep contemplating all the concentrated effort that made this day and this rescue possible and am curious about what we've learned about "purposeful confinement."
In particular, what did these miners do while confined to keep focused on the goal of getting back to the surface? What were their activities and their interactions with those above ground? What worked to keep them in good spirits and good health?
The data we can mine from this experience (so sorry, but that's my one pun per day) could be studied along side findings of individuals and groups who agree to be confined for a specific period (for example religious/spiritual retreat, rehab, etc.) and those involutarily confined (prisoners, for example). The key factor of confinement construed as "deprevation," is a powerful motivator for turning inward. How we cope with that inward journey is the measure of our sanity. What are the pivotal examples that guide the behaviorial choices of confined indivduals?
Could the stories of survival in the Chilean mine help inform our incarceration practices?
Comments