I, I wish I could swim
Like the dolphins
Like dolphins can swim…
Unfortunately the rest of the song and particularly its inspiration—a Visconti tryst against the Berlin Wall—have nothing to with the heroism in Thailand that so engaged and enthralled us.
However, there is another line from Bowie’s song—“we can be heroes for just one day”—that for me at least evoked a key part of the magic that swept the world from Tham Luang: we were part of it.
The multinational rescue brought together the world’s best divers and cave experts. Yet it also brought us together. And this was particularly remarkable—and needed—because we live in a time when we seem to be increasingly driven apart, whether it is by the global polarising effect of Donald Trump, the internecine warfare of the religions or even the bitterness that has enveloped the political and industrial landscapes here in New Zealand.
For just one day and the day after that and so on the world was united in hope and, for those so inclined, in prayer.
There was a common will for success—that the rescue, against all odds, would come out right. Yet, if we were to be true to ourselves, we would admit to believing success was hardly possible. We would even perhaps think that we didn’t deserve success—that good news in any form was somehow something we had been conditioned against.
Yet, it happened. It happened because of the bravery and expertise of a select—very select—group of men and women and of course the bravery of the boys and their coach.
We all got to share in that.
Now we are back to what many of us accept as reality: nurses who are taking entirely justifiable action to get paid just a portion of what they are worth; Donald Trump slagging off at all and sundry (except Putin); and for the moment a Royal family that has run out of babies and weddings to distract us.
Yet, there is lingering warmth.
Because, for just a few days at Tham Luang, we all walked and swam with heroes.
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