I remember when it happened, and I'm sure you all do as well; the explosion followed by the endless amounts of oil pumped into the sea, killing wildlife and devastating the economy. All over the news for months were images of the destruction as it unfolded, included with close-ups of dead birds and people who were now out of a job. Scientists would go on discussion panels and say that the damage was irreversible. Magazines did whole features on it, adding to the mayhem. Even up north people were in an uproar, donating money from their middle-class piggy banks to organizations and silently shaking their heads whenever the topic was brought up at parties.
Some people know about how eleven (ELEVEN) employees had presumably been killed in the explosion, and that their bodies were never found. Or that there had been an accident in Texas due to old equipment that also killed BP employees right before this had happened. Just to think about all the poor families, in deep mourning at funerals, with nothing of their loved ones to bury. That itself is a national tragedy.
But that wasn't the front and center reason people called for BP to be criminally prosecuted, or to boycott their gas stations. It was because what was front and center for the people in the Gulf of Mexico- rotting fish bobbing to shore and dirty, sick birds trying to flap their wings as they lay dying in the sand. Environmental activists were adamant, repeating over and over like a mantra: "Don't buy gas from BP or else you're a terrible person. Sign this petition so BP will be held responsible for their monstrous actions."
Now, I don't know much about how gas stations work, but I do know that there are such thing as local franchises. And when you don't buy from them, you are only hurting the owner of the store, which is not some corporate super villain. Nope, you would be financially starving a regular, small business owner from your own misplaced condemnation to the logo on their sign.
And I, being only ten then, believed every word of it. That the coastal south was going to plunge into a deep depression, that the environment will forever be tainted brown and greasy rainbow swirls, and that action would be taken against them. As I got older, it was only in the very back of my head, no longer a concern to me. I just assumed that all that had happened, but had never given much thought again to it after the media had had their big story.
It was only until last Sunday that we were driving back from the beach and my mother pulled into a, you guessed it, BP gas station to fill the tank. Vaguely remembering the blood on the green and yellow hands, I thought back to how their were vengeful promises of empty stations and eventually, "Closed Forever" signs hanging on the door.
Plenty of other cars were there, and nobody seemed like they were only there to go in and burn the place down. A young couple laughed as the girl pumped the gas, a mother followed by four or five children of various stages of adolescence went into the bathroom. It was blazing hot but with the promise of a cooling afternoon rain hanging in the sky. Live music spilled over from a biker bar and a pregnant woman danced with her grandmother by the car. The picture of a joyful summer day.
That's when I realized that the environment wasn't dangerous and toxic anymore, and the economy (which had already been in a recession) came back as tourists flooded the Sunshine State to have their own golden lit vacation. Like somebody with an illness or on the verge of losing their house, we were all just fine for now.
Of course BP got away with it, as they always will. A few steep fines and a couple pro-south commercials, and they made off pretty good considering what could have been done if their legal team wasn't so clever. And they don't look like they are going out of business anytime soon. They'll probably keep sucking the life out us like all the other gas companies for years to come. Thank you, have a nice day, come again soon.
And that's why it'll happen again. Any sort of huge, awful thing really. Think about all that has happened in the past couple years. What is the first thing to come to mind? Shootings. Violent, random, shootings. Malls, movie theaters, and even young children are not spared by this alarming headliner.
Now I'm not going to get political on this one and switch to the topic of gun control, even though I'd really, really like too. But I'm not going to do it. The focus here should be on just how easily people forget even the worst events in history. We are shocked, we mourn, and we forget. The families of the victims won't, but we do.
I think that humans live life on a rotational cycle, that we only care about things that are right now or relevant to us. Of course this kind of stuff gives us deeply rooted, primal fears of somebody being able to kill us in what should be a safe, public place, but we otherwise do not remember why it is we have that fear. Some of us have this mindset that it only matters if it directly effects us. When that happens we're up in arms.
There is preventative action being taken, which is good. "Hide From the Mad Gunmen" drills are scheduled just as regularly as fire drills, and not without good reason. Just like on an airplane, you have to learn what to do if all hell breaks loose just in case it does. But it's not enough.
We are pre-conditioned to accept that new victims will join the old ones, that something bad will happen eventually. Perhaps it's easier to think this way, accepting something that doesn't have to happen. BP went on as life did, and so does everything else. But where in there are we supposed to just let our flawed ways remain and not change anything?
Instead of all the effort being in loud, pointless debates on TV, it should be in doing every possible thing to stop potential accidents and tragedies from ever occurring again. Laws need to be passed, at least, to have some sort of effect instead of just some half-assed suggestions to lock your door at night and that oil companies should get their equipment checked.
We can't stop every bad thing from ever happening again. But we might just be able to stop the worst. We can't live in constant fear. But we might just me able to enjoy life a little bit better knowing that we are aware of this. Through the tragedies, we learn and better the world in the dead's name. And through the triumphs of righting at least some of the wrongs the taste of freedom is a little bit sweeter.
As I sat in the car during that day of revelations, I expected myself to at least feel guilty that we were there, that we couldn't go another quarter mile to take our business somewhere else. But instead I just observed everyone around me and thought
I should smile more.
And that's exactly what I did.
