Condo collapse, Day 7: Thank you, Mr. President, our pain is deep, and your words matter
A week into the hellish plunge of a condo building packed with sleeping families, the president of the United States came to Miami to take on the task of consoling when there are no words.
No, not when so many victims still lie under mounds of rubble.
No, not when there’s mounting evidence that this could have been prevented were it not for greed, shoddy construction practices, and lack of substantive governmental oversight.
No, not when entire families are, suddenly, gone.
Two little girls — sisters Lucia, 10, and Emma, 4 — who undoubtedly spent many joyful hours playing in the sand and frolicking in the blue waters in front of the building with their mom, Anaely Rodriguez and their dad, Marcus
Guara. All lost in the Champlain Towers South collapse.
Their bodies are among the 22 recovered as of Friday.
“The whole nation is grieving with these families,” President Joe Biden said after meeting with relatives awaiting news of their loved ones. People who are, Biden said, “praying and pleading, ‘God, let there be a miracle.’ ”
The horrific deaths of adults is wrenching enough — the matriarchs and patriarchs of families living their golden years in what was supposed to be a peaceful setting, the wageearning adults who were lifelines to others, the foreigners here seeking refuge from other perils.
But the devastating reality of the loss of innocent children makes it all the harder to bear.
Their magical playground is now a massive grave site, a dangerous one where the members of search-and-rescue units risk their lives every day recovering bodies and clinging to hope — a hope dimming each day — that they will find survivors among the more than 120 still missing.
Time is precious. We need to believe more than ever that miracles are possible, but setbacks are forecasting more suffering.
SEARCH AND RESCUE HALTED
Early Thursday, before the president’s arrival, search-and-rescue work had to be halted at the sacred site after an engineer detected a shift of six to 12 inches in a concrete column hanging over a subterranean parking area. Tragedy would be compounded if what’s left of the fallen building crashed in on our heroes.
For days, search-andrescue crews have worked around falling debris, under unrelenting rains and, had to make the agonizing decision to wait out an engineer’s assessment on how to safely resume digging (they did so by evening) when there’s a hurricane forecast that could affect the rescue mission, too.
No clemency, even from the weather. All of it is taking an emotional toll.
BIDEN, CONSOLER-IN-CHIEF
How can a president soothe pain that looms so large, runs so deep?
“The simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done really makes a difference,” Biden assured, as he sat at a conference table with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava on one side and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on the other.
And I, for one, believed him.
It wasn’t a stirring call to unity, but he defined the path taken, calling the way local, state, and federal officials and resources have come together, “remarkable.”
“Everybody is in the same team, pulling together,” he said in remarks, praising South Florida Republican and Democratic elected officials alike, and adding “there’s much more to be done.”
It’s difficult to speak about gratitude in times of strife, but Biden managed.
Standing before firerescue workers and police officers, he let simple, but profound, words of gratitude ring.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
The emotion was palpable.
“What you’re doing here is incredible . . . as hard as hell,” he added.
The president exuded nothing but respect for everyone.
He knows about gutpunching grief firsthand.
Biden lost his wife and young daughter in a terrible car accident, and it took three hours to extricate his sons. The worst, he said Thursday, was not knowing if they would live or die. Not long ago, he also lost one of his two adult sons to cancer.
He knows that tragedies call for duty that is larger than ourselves.
We overcome losses and forge on for the survivors, first and foremost, but also for our community, the one we saw through the president’s eyes today.
As we walk through dark days of loss and pain, we must commit to a better Miami.
President Biden didn’t say those words, but they came to mind in his presence.