Yesterday I watched several news reports and read just as many news articles online about the oil spill in the Gulf. It completely sucked me in and occupied most of my day. I became almost obsessed, reading anything and everything I could find about it. I can see two sides to this story.
One. I lived in Mobile, Alabama during my teenage years and early twenties. I know the beauty of the Gulf, the warm breeze on a summers day that comes off of it, sea gulls flying low to the ground at the edge of the water’s crest. I’ve swam in the warm Gulf waters, I’ve laid out on it’s beaches from Pensacola and westward, Gulf Shores, Biloxi Beach, and even in Galveston once. I’ve seen the shrimp boats leaving the docks early in the morning before the sun rises, and I’ve watched them come in well after dark. People live on these beaches, and people support their families catching the shrimp and fish that live deep in that muddy water.
Two. I am studying Emergency Management, and from what I’ve read, FEMA and the President aren’t really doing much to help this situation. It took the President ELEVEN days to react to this problem. I also read that there has been no Federal mitigation for disastrous oil spills. I wonder if the newest edition of my text books will have anything about oil spills…
Well, I made this my cause. I have 25 days until my wedding, and I’m taking up a cause. I guess I am a little crazy, but I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. I feel so bad that I can’t be down there helping more, but what I CAN do is collect the hair clippings and pantyhose and pack it all up and send it south. And that’s what I’m going to do. I’ve made contact with someone that is willing to accept my package, and make sure it gets to the right place. I’ve got a local hair salon, PetCo, and my vet collecting hair for me. All I have to do is drop by and pick it up. I’m asking everyone I know for pantyhose. (Which gets some strange looks, until explained.)
I guess what’s really important is that I feel like I’m doing something for the greater good. If I ever have children, I want them to be able to experience the Gulf in the ways that I have. I want the threat to the sea life to be as minimal as possible. I want our world to be a better place. That’s the dreamer in me I suppose, but why not try?