Now that the world has come out of the grips of the Thailand cave rescue mission, which had ended, fortunately, saving miraculously all twelve children and coach, stranded deep within underground caves for more than 17 days, we all can sigh in relief and afford to see things in different perspective.
While there would be numerous ways of seeing this incredible story of international cooperation, human courage, and extraordinary bond of humanity that transcends the seemingly ordinary ties of ethnicity, nationality or political and cultural proximity.
This piece essays to chisel out three critical lessons of life that we all can delve upon and re-train our minds.
Indeed, this story is also about the importance of training and re-training in one’s life and work situations, for without the meticulous and incremental training of all those professionals involved in this miraculous rescue mission, nothing could have been achieved.
While experts and authorities all around the world would be busy in studying, analysing and documenting the key lessons from this amazing rescue mission to guide any similar future rescue missions, it is also important that we identify some critical lessons for the ordinary people.
It’s not over until it’s over
Thai cave rescue story is all about a straightforward lesson of life that it is not over until it is over.
The kids, who are now being revered for demonstrating an immense level of resilience by hanging on till the very end, first before they could be located, and until they could be finally rescued successfully.
Even though experts and those involved in the thick and thin of this rescue mission are now asserting that this would be once in a lifetime mission that succeeded against all odds, yet it did succeed eventually.
When thinking from the stranded kids’ perspective, adversity stuck them for the first time in life, and their resilience was rewarded finally.
So nothing else matters in life, except that it’s not over until it’s over.
However, this also applies on the other end of the scale, when riding on success and losing sight of the end goal and becoming complacent.
Everyone would have noted that despite mission’s incremental success on day one and day two, where they have evacuated four plus four kids, there was no room for slightest complacency.
The rule that it’s not over until it’s over also applies when one is riding on the momentum of success. This is being further reiterated as more behind scene stories such as failure of water-pump are being released to media.
Master the excellence
While we all are equally awestruck by the level of courage, resilience, human spirit and faith of everyone involved in this super-human effort, is there something for us mortals as well, to take away and be inspired?
Not everyone would work in jobs remotely similar with exotic titles like cave-divers, medical anaesthetist and cave-divers to put them on the forefront of a high-adrenaline situation whereby saving lives of others.
However, what everyone can learn from this rescue mission is to do their everyday jobs, regardless of what they do, with the utmost integrity and excellence.
For, the success of those Navy Seals, British, Australian and other international divers has come on the back of years and years of chasing excellence.
We all had a choice of returning back from the current high-level adrenaline rush from watching the successful endeavours of all of those specialists and volunteers to our mundane lives or be inspired with the knowledge that their success would not have happened without mastery in their profession.
At least we all can chase mastery in the profession that we pursue on the daily basis.
Not everyone knows the complete truth – it’s okay to trust others
One of the most repetitious imageries relayed from this rescue mission was two things that not everyone knows a complete truth, and therefore, it is completely okay to trust others.
In fact, it will not be an exaggeration to say that the modesty to accept the fact that not everyone knows the complete truth and it is okay to trust others, was written all over the mission in bold letters.
This applies to both, lives of individuals and organisations.
Even the most optimistic ones could not have imagined that this mission could be accomplished without a minimum fatality, given the set of circumstances prevailing.
No one had access to that truth, least those involved in the rescue mission and the kids who despite being located were facing the grim situation of crossing the flooded cave with black-coffee like water.
Trust on one another was the key to success for this mission.
Be it British divers’ trust in the ability of Australian anaesthetist-diver for the success of the mission, or the kids’ trust in their buddy-diver to navigate them through dark, claustrophobic spaces inside flooded caves.