Even though it happened years ago, many of us here this morning can still recall the tragedy as if it were yesterday. Remember the way a whole country held its breath, prayed its prayers, and sat glued to the television set? We watched, spellbound, as the Herculean efforts of hundreds of firefighters, engineers, mining experts, and emergency services specialists, labored to save the life of one trapped child. As we watched and prayed, this little girl became everyone's child.

This child was Baby Jessica, as the media dubbed her, a tiny two year old who somehow managed to fall down an abandoned well-pipe with an unbelievably narrow diameter, which made sending anyone or any equipment in after her impossible. The little girl's body was wedged tight, bent in two at the waist, dozens of feet be…