Tuesday, April 06, 2010

25 Dead in West Virginia Coal Mine Disaster


Twenty-five dead in West Virginia -- that's 21 more than four dead in O-Hi-O (and one fewer song). How many of the 25 dead were women? And what are the feminists doing about the ongoing gender imbalance and patriarchal oppression in the coal mines, where men get to do all the work, take all the risks, and lay down their lives for their loved ones -- women and children alike?

Just wondering. Maybe, just maybe, this whole male patriarchal oppression thing has been overstated, and there's more love involved in all of this than feminists realize or are willing to admit.

May God bless coal miners and their families everywhere. And may we all appreciate the role coal has made in making our lives easier, better, and more comfortable.

I thank God for coal, and for coal miners.

In my family, I had a grand-father who was a railway conductor, and an uncle, my favorite uncle, Uncle George, who was a railway engineer. Coal gave way to diesel. My uncle George's notion of a toast was to raise a glass and say, "CN!". I think it was in jest, but who knows what he was thinking.

Life is precious.

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

2 comments:

dmorris said...

Several relatives worked for CN, so I have a pretty good idea what Uncle George meant.

I've done a lot of different things to earn a living, but you'd never get me to go down into a coal mine. Those who do have my respect.

btw, coal mine disasters occur on a weekly basis in China, read today that 105 Chinese miners escaped a flooded mine, no word on how many perished.

DMorris

BallBounces said...

DM - thanks for the comment.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"