RIDING THE WRITERS' WAVE

The Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 is number 28 on the list of large oil spills and the Deepwater Horizon spill of April 20th would listed 8th if by some miracle it stopped today. The Ixtoc I oil spill in the Bay of Campeche in 1979 when Pemex, the govt owned oil company of Mexico, had a blowout of an exploratory well in 160 feet of ocean. This was the largest accidental spill in history at 480,000 tons.

The largest spill happened in 1991 when Saddam Hussein intentionaly blew whole oilfields. This spill was approximately 1.5 million tons.

The Deepwater Horizon spill began April 20th . This is only day 40 of what looks to be a much longer disaster. At 223,000 tons, it is in 8th place with a bullet. There appears to be no evidence it will stop until long after the 1.5 million ton spill in 1991.

Ideological glee and finger pointing at politicians, governments, and corporations already reviled and hated by juvenile utopians only serves to drive a wedge deeper between many of my brothers and sisters.

Is it more important to keep score in a battle of beliefs, never forgetting even imaginary slights and intellectual injustices? Or am I better served by practicing what I preach?

It seems that our technology has outstripped our civilization.

Having lived life in a child’s sandbox, perhaps we should learn how to get along before we leave kindergarten and become first graders.

Blaming someone or something for how I feel is asinine and embarrassing. Believing environmentalists should take advantage of a disaster to achieve their goals is obscene. How can something be condemned when an opponent does it but be applauded when it is for my own good?

This oil spill is on the way to becoming the greatest man made disaster in history. So, who is responsible?

Fat cats? Capitalists? The greedy? Corporations? Politicians? Special interest groups? The secret-deal makers? Dupes, charlatans, and the innocent? Religion, is it Jesus’ fault? The obese? The salt-eaters? Technology? The ghost-in-the-machine? Anarchists? The Masons? Toastmasters? The Boy Scouts?

Please, feel free to add to this list of people and institutions who are at fault.

You know what, things break. They just do. This is the Nature of Things.

What I feel about it, believe about it, think about it, worry about it, do about it… Human Nature.

Life is not on hold until the spill stops and the oil is gone. Today is just another day. This disaster, just another opportunity not to be immobilized by fear and worry, to avoid procrastination, and to treat my brothers and sisters, my animal companions, all life as the precious gifts that they are.

When bad things happen consider this…

I am not your enemy.

Peace - Peach