James Pribram: Surfing Soapbox/A sickening feeling in the Gulf...

With every step I take, I feel as if I'm walking farther from the world I knew. In disbelief, I keep trying to make sense of what it is I am seeing. I still can't.

I have chills just thinking about it. My eyes are watering, and this untamable emotion is running through me.

Visiting Grand Isle yesterday was just like attending my best friend's funeral because the ocean in Grand Isle is dead. It is a ghost town; the beach is empty except for rude and disrespectful BP cleanup crews, who adeptly avoid speaking about the spill.

What causes their hostility toward the common person seeking answers?

In a time when these so-called BP employees should be sincere and compassionate toward the public, for the most part, from my experience, they are anything but. Why have these people not been briefed in civil and everyday manners? These people should be bringing the people of this region affected by the oil spill breakfast in bed and washing their cars – doing anything in their power to make these people feel better.
But instead, BP hides behind marketing scams such as Vessels of Opportunity, which was supposed to put local fishermen back to work looking for oil, but has become a way for anybody with a boat to make extra money.
Imagine a beach devoid of anything good. A beach that for miles and miles is closed, with the only colors that one can see being the two different colors of oil boom that litter the seashore. The smell is sickening, and believe me when I tell you it is worse than anything you can imagine.

It is a scene out of some weird sci-fi movie that just blows me away. I am so crushed at the thought of such flagrant irresponsibility for our oceans and our environment. Does our government really care?
Or does oil just rule the world?

Peace.

James Pribram