Posted July 23, 2010

by Richard Zack

The first local person I encountered on my journey to the Gulf, was the clerk at the Motel 6 in Gulfport I stayed at my first night.

She asked me what brought me to town, so I told her it was the oil disaster….. and with a semi-sarcastic 1am expression said that I “wanted to see the Gulf coast first hand before it was gone”.

It seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to say, poetic even, in a “Dances with Wolves” kind of way. It’s true, I’ve never seen the Gulf coast before… and that I wanted to see it before it was gone.

The expression on her face instantly made me realize my error, that I had just made a back handed slap at her life, shrinking her down to a snarky sound bite with my self-gratifying poetic fantasy,  right in her face.

Here I come from “the big city” to see this disaster first hand… because I feel so terrible and helpless about this disaster and was compelled to go to see it….. and to the first person I meet who is directly affected by the tragedy, I immediately come off like a “disaster tourist” getting kicks off of their pain…

Her name was Karen. She saw my facial expression instantly turn to distress as I realized my insensitivity… and since she was still checking me into the hotel and the vibe had turned awkward, she quickly changed the subject and tried to lighten things by telling me more about the Gulf.

She started by saying how beautiful the area was and that she had lived in the region her whole life.   She mentioned that unknown to many, including myself, Hurricane Katrina severely ravaged Gulfport Mississippi in addition to New Orleans.  Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, families uprooted, and substantial pain was endured by the local people. After years of rebuilding, the area finally was coming back to normal. The beaches were reopened and tourists started coming back. Karen told me how she felt like businesses were sprouting and people were starting once again to regain the hope that their lives would “return to normal”.

As she started telling me about things I could do while visiting town, none of which were memorable… the tone of her voice changed, as if she realized that everything wonderful she loved about the area was already lost.

She then began telling me about the Terns.  They nest on the beach every year, and one of her favorite things to do was to walk and watch them when they visit each year…  As tears literally welled up in her eyes, and she fought back from letting them fall, she said that she doesn’t know if the Terns will be back or if she will be able to see them again.

Like everyone in the Gulf region, she doesn’t know what will happen next… even though for now the oil geyser has been capped, there is a sense that the full extent of the tragedy is unknown.. the worst of the disaster yet to come.

She changed the topic and kept talking, but I couldn’t pay attention to her words. Her feelings of frustration, anger and helplessness poured from her eyes and her soul and directly into mine and I was paralyzed.

Finally the checkout process was done and she gave me my room keys. I apologized for being insensitive to her and thanked her as sincerely as possible for sharing her thoughts with me. She said she was happy to have me at the hotel and wished me luck on my journey.

When the Deepwater Horizon exploded and caused what will ultimately be the worst oil disaster in human history, people around the world were concerned. They sipped their lattes and discussed it lightly in conversation when it’s appropriate, being careful not to “bring up a downer topic” in polite conversation. Because it’s not really cool to talk about the oil spill, not something to be brought up at social gatherings when people are trying to “have fun”. It’s already almost a taboo subject in social circles, unless of course you’re using it as a sound bite to criticize the Obama administration.

The pundits and talking heads use the spill as a talking point to prove their own political agendas. The politicians position themselves to capitalize on the disaster appropriately.  How many are directly affected by the tragedy… how many will tear up when thinking about the Terns?

The hard reality is that this isn’t a movie… This isn’t just some talking point for the pundits…. not just a topic to be battered around lightly in between lattes in an NYC coffee shop… It isn’t just one more item to use to prove a political or philosophical argument… or to help your re-election bid.

This disaster is absolutely real, totally personal and very much a part now of the daily lives of millions of Gulf residents.  It has changed their lives to the core… and the ever present uncertainty surrounding “what happens next” gives the sense that they feel like they are on death row awaiting appeal.

This oil disaster will impact us all, albeit in varying degrees of relative insignificance, compared to the families of the 11 workers who were killed, and the millions of Gulf residents who were directly affected.

Will we allow this to happen again?

Or will we demand that those responsible be held accountable?

What do you think?

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