Oceanic Woe

I'm sorry I've been quiet for so long, Dear Reader. My heart is heavy. This makes it heavy.

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I grew up in the southern United States. I often vacationed on the Gulf of Mexico, dug my toes into the soft, fine grains of sand on white beaches, watched pods of dolphins frolic just offshore, and enjoyed inexpressibly delectable seafood.

Thanks to BP, many of the formative memories from my childhood can never be properly revisited. The Gulf of Mexico will not recover from this debacle for more years than I care to think on. I can't take PL1 and PL2 to the same white sand beaches, can't sail with them in the crystal waters, can't wake them up at the crack of dawn to watch pods of dolphins cavort in the waves. PL1 and PL2 will be long grown before the Gulf of Mexico begins to truly recover from the horror going on right now.

I shudder to think of the long-term ramifications of such a profound amount of oil leaking into such a delicate natural habitat. At the end of the hatching season, the few shrimp that might have survived are unsuitable for harvesting. Dead dolphins bloated with oil are washing up onshore. We're only seeing a snippet of the catastrophic consequences; most of it is being played out far under the water, beyond the reach of the media's camera lenses.

Not only does this affect the natural beauty of the Louisiana wetlands and the white sand beaches of Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi, but it will permanently alter the people who live and work there -- their livelihoods and their way of life. The oceanside towns will be a shell of their former selves, abandoned by fishermen and those who cater to the tourists who will no longer come.

Maybe, years from now, the sea will be worth swimming in. Maybe when PL1 and PL2 are older, I can share with them the joy of digging their toes into the white sand, and rouse them out of bed at the crack of dawn to watch dolphins just offshore, leaping from the water to greet the sun.

But now, I'm sad.