Why has the Chilean miners' rescue left me this euphoric?

„The thing about rescuing the Chilean miners is that there's no such thing as overreacting. There's no such thing as too many presidents in attendance, even if the lone rescued Bolivian might have been a little surprised to see Evo Morales. There's no such thing as too many journalists – there have been 2,000 of them waiting at the site, which averages 61 per miner. A trauma expert wrote today that the most important thing to avert long-term psychological damage was that those trapped felt they could speak, and would be listened to. He probably didn't mean an international hoard of strangers. But at least there isn't a shortage.

One's instinct is to distrust an emotional response like this, because it's so random. What's a living definition of sentimentality, if not this heightened, secondhand euphoria for the survivors of an accident so unremarkable in a dangerous industry? And yet I feel euphoric. I don't care if it's sentimental. I don't judge Oakley for sending in sunglasses, even though it's blatant product placement in the one film that the whole world will watch. I don't judge the lingerie shop in Copiapó, which sent all the wives and girlfriends fancy pants, after the miners put in a mischievous request that their beloveds' knicker drawers be refreshed (Cristina Nunez, girlfriend of Claudio Yanez, said, my boyfriend wants me to buy a baby doll negligee. I am going to do that because we're getting drenched in each other's love by every passing day.)

Actually this product placement was not very effective, since I cannot tell you the name of the lingerie supplier: so this most likely wasn't marketing but a genuine act of kindness. The Japanese space agency sent pants down for the men – not because they were drenched in love, but rather, might be drenched in moisture and odour, for which these garments are specially adapted. This is what puts men on the moon, people. Nasa, for its part, sent down spacesuits for the men to wear as they travelled back to the surface. It doesn't need publicity, it's Nasa. But perhaps it could use more publicity for its lesser-known quality of human kindness? It's hard to tell with an event like this: what is the line between joining in a global outpouring and jumping on a global bandwagon?”