I finished eating dinner early last night so I could tune into the national news to get the latest update on the oil spill in the gulf. Everyday the oil inches closer to some pristine marsh land and beautiful beaches and continues to flow from the uncapped well. Several failed attempts to capture the escaping crude have made headlines and caused involved parties to start a "passing the buck contest". This could potentially be the worst spill we have had in the United States, ever. Once eleven million and one gallon escapes we are there.
But last night, as I listened to the sensational lead in by the news anchor, I heard something that I don't think I've heard before. Sure, they say it every time, but I only heard it yesterday. Eleven hard working people were killed in the fire and ensuing explosions when the oil rig collapsed. Eleven people who's only crime was being at work when disaster struck. Eleven individuals that will be only a footnote in the wake of the natural disaster that follows.
This reminds me of a quote from a Tim Wilson song, "don't blame your paulbearers if they don't show, if your buried in the middle of the Superbowl". Lost in the confusion. We have become so accustomed to footage of large disasters with large body counts that eleven seems like a near miss. The "compound interest" of eleven deaths is huge. Mothers,fathers,children,grandchildren, spouses, you do the math.
I can only hope that we learn some valuable lesson from this spill. I think we have already learned that $500,000 for a cap that can close the well from the surface is cheap. Our need for oil is not going to go away, and we have to figure out how to harvest it safely. I'm not an engineer and I don't pretend to know the answers, but today I want to pray for the families that lost their loved ones in this disaster.
Thanks Drew...The baby goes out with the bath water a lot these days...love you. Pop
ReplyDeleteSo good, so true. All those grieving people...their lost loves were working for their families but they were also working for us, all of us. Oil companies aren't the villians here, they're doing what we demand they do. Is there a villian? Marsha
ReplyDeleteThe villian is our dependency(sp). Taylor had a teacher at school tell her that we should stop drilling immediately and that he would gladly pay $5 per gallon for gas. I would pay that too, but if you don't produce any of your own they suppliers will say..."ok...how about $5 for the first year then $15 per gallon" and there is nothing you can do about it. Sad for the people who lost loved ones. The media almost makes them seem like partners in crime.
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