Yet Another Untold Story

Would YOU hire this man?

Like everyone else, I cheered aloud to discover that the miners trapped in the San Jose mine in Chile had been rescued. Tired of reading about petulant, unrepentant movie stars and coddled athletes, it was refreshing to read about a country that cared enough to work all out for a group of men trapped in a cave far below the earth: a place that would have driven me nuts in about 20 minutes (not unlike watching an entire episode of Jersey Shore). Eventually, though, all eyes returned to sexting quarterbacks, feuding pre-election mud-slinging and the Dow Jones Industrial Average...not so Sergio Malebran.
Like 265 other mine workers and 200 subcontractors who were NOT on duty that fateful day, Malebran was employed by the San Jose mine. Thankful that he did not have to endure being buried alive, he nonetheless feels cheated. While the rescued miners are off to futbol matches and made-for-TV movie stardom, Malebran and 465 others are unemployed...with no money...and very little hope.
Chilean law indicates that a miner should get severance pay equal to one month for every year's employment, but that money has been delayed until at least December, and there is nowhere for people like Malebran to turn. Union money has run out, and in the small town of Copiapo where he lives, there is scant opportunity for employment of any kind. Hard times are coming, and his wife already suffers physically from the stress; it will get worse.
The government went so far as to provide a job fair for the unemployed, and this event meant jobs for 10-12 of the former miners...hardly enough.
You'll notice I haven't mentioned his age (52). It hardly seems to matter since not even the younger ex-miners are getting jobs. While the world looks elsewhere for its next captivating moment of glory, Sergio Malebran and his wife stare hopelessness in the face.