Two years since Sago

It's been two years since the Sago Coal Mine disaster, and almost 65 since the Smith Coal Mine disaster. When Sago happened, I couldn't believe how similar the circumstances were to the Montana tragedy all those years ago: methane explosion, safety violations, greedy owners. I couldn't stop watching the coverage and imagining the families I was writing about going through the same trauma as the Sago families. They didn't have a church in Bearcreek where they could all gather - most of them huddled in the cold machine shop. And they were spared the awful tease of hearing that their loved ones were all alive, as the Sago people did. But both groups waited and waited for smiles they would never see again. The Bearcreek people that I've met were never the same after the disaster. I doubt the Sago people are, either.