Saskatchewan Temperment

About a week ago, there was a major fire in a potash mine in southern Saskatchewan. Fortunately, all 72 miners found their way to safe haven areas within the mine and waited out the fire. This was quite an amazing and dramatic story, so of course the media wanted to interview the miners and hear their stories.

I listened to several of these interviews throughout the day on CBC. One was on the local afternoon show and the other was on As It Happens, and as I listened to them, I marvelled at the level headed and relaxed Saskatchewan temperment. Here is an example of my paraphrase of part of the interview:

Interviewer: So, how did it feel to be caught in the mine for 22 hours, waiting to be rescued?

Miner: Well, you know, we knew that we were in a safe place, so it was okay. We got kind of bored after a while, so we played some cards and talked a lot. We weren't that worried.

Interviewer: What about your wife? How did she react?

Miner: I'm on the mine safety board, so she knows all about the safety procedures in the mine, so she wasn't too worried. We could phone out to tell everyone we were okay.

I had to laugh a bit. This was such a dramatic and exciting story, but they couldn't get any juicy emotional tape from anyone. It was all calm, levelheaded responses. No choking back tears. No harrowing stories. Just some guys who happened to make it through a major fire and come out alive. But that's their job, eh. Its not like anyone died or anything, and we get a week off work. Why don't you all calm down and go have a beer already?

I love Canada.