People stuck in inescapable situations

Christmas is three and a half months away. Perhaps your young children are beginning to think of that happy occasion and are not aware of the plight of 33 miners who are trapped almost a half mile underground in a collapsed mine in Chile.

If you are not aware of this you have not been listening to the news. As of now the miners have not been told that they may not be freed until Christmas for fear they will get in a panic or depressed state of mind that could lead to unknown mental problems.

There are 20 million Pakistanis who have been displaced from their homes because of flooding which had covered their country over an area larger than the state of California. Thousands are dying daily from water poisoning. There is virtually no escape from the contaminated water.

It has been almost a year since Haiti suffered a massive earthquake leveling the cities with tens of thousands of families living in tents, trapped and in eminent danger with hurricanes approaching from the east. While some aid in the way of doctors, medicine and food has been delivered from the United States, logistical problems of who to give the money to has delayed the promised 200 million in aid.

After President Obama ordered the evacuation of our military from Iraq, there are some 56,000 military personnel who have been left behind to assist Iraqi military and police in maintaining what form of order that has been established in the last nine years. These soldiers are trapped there until at least next year or who knows when. Then there's Afghanistan.

There are more than 10 percent of the workers here in the United States who are unemployed and have no income. The places where they may be applying for work are still laying off their employees for lack of business.

In a visit to the town of Helen in northeast Georgia, the economy and stress the people who work are feeling trapped and unable to make enough to stay in business. The stores and restaurants have few customers.

At 5 one evening one store clerk mentioned she had not had one paying customer all day long. People are taking care of the necessities of life but are forgoing the buying of un-necessaries.

Golfing, apparently, is a necessity, but ironically, most courses are filled with golfers all day long.

Many of us are not affected by any of these hardships and it does not matter one way or the other. Perhaps you can dismiss them from your mind and not give another thought about their plight. Or you may feel sorry for them but you know there is nothing you can personally do to relieve them of their distress, so you are able to not dwell upon it and not think about it until something reminds you.

I wake up every morning thinking of the miners and wondering how I would be able to cope with knowing I would be stuck for almost four months in a dark cave with limited food and water or activities, or what I would do if I had no home or income.

I have no way to relieve the distress of the miners, the Haitians, the Pakistanis, or the soldiers overseas, but I do have some income and did my part to help the American economy by taking an expensive 10-day vacation.