Friday, August 24, 2007

The Blame Game


Yesterday's sorry news out of Utah:

The operator of the Crandall Canyon coal mine says no one will be going back into the tunnels where six men have been trapped since Aug. 6.

That means the bodies of the miners may never be recovered.

"I told (the Mine Safety and Health Administration) it is an evil mountain, it is alive, and I will never go back there," Robert Murray said today.

How like humans to place the blame on something else, anything or anyone else other than themselves! By saying the mountain is evil, by placing the blame on it, Murry escapes the responsibility, and the awful truth, that it is his greed that has caused the deaths of three, probably nine workers and rescuers. Under his [and the Mine Company's] orders, the mine was being mined for the last remaining coal in the pillars supporting the ceiling of the room being mined, a method called retreat mining. According to one mine safety official, "...the reason the practice is used is that it pays off: The last bit of coal taken from pillars is pure profit. Plus, if someone violates rules during pillar removal and there is a collapse, the evidence of rule violations are gone."

The mountain isn't evil. In this case, greed goeth before a fall.

2 comments:

L A Brannen said...

I agree. Greed is the cause of so many of this world's problems. "But godliness with contentment is great gain." (1 Timothy 6:6}

Travelin' On said...

Yes, what a very sad story. I had not heard the "evil mountain" explanation.