Get the picture? by Sherry Hopkins

I remember a story from childhood about a little Dutch boy who, upon seeing a leaking dike while on his way to school, decided to stick his finger in it to stop the trickle, thus averting a real disaster of monumental proportions.

Where, oh where is the little Dutch boy now? It is inconceivable to me, just a lowly housewife, that the richest, most industrious country in the whole world cannot figure out how to stop a leak after more than 40 days and 40 nights.

I guess I have a different mindset about things. I never start a project until I have analyzed it to death. I want to know the outcome good or bad and how to proceed if my plan does not work. In other words a PLAN B.

Some argue that British Petroleum (BP) had a PLAN B and it failed. Well, that plan was not a good plan.

I am not for any more government interference in our lives, but it seems to me that some sort of regulation would be in order if you are planning a project where failure would be such tragedy, require such sacrifice and come at so costly an environmental price for a whole nation to pay.

Another thing that has me confused about this whole ordeal is this. Nearly moments after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in September 2005 gas prices soared to record levels. We were at times paying $4 or more for a gallon of gasoline.

The excuse the media kept giving for this astronomical spike was that the closing of platforms in the Gulf waters, (for safety’s sake), left us short in our reserves of crude oil.

I have been ranting for weeks now about the price of gas falling not rising when we have a platform not only shut down, but spewing anywhere from 5,000 to 5 gazillion gallons of oil a day into the Gulf. Now don’t get me wrong I am not in favor of higher fuel prices, but, come on folks, we can’t have it both ways.

Somebody needs to tell the truth here.

Finally last night one national media outlet reported that we are not in any danger of higher fuel prices because of this leak. Why not, you ask? Because so far this leak has only leaked the amount of fuel that the United Sates would consume in an hour of any given day.

Huh?

Who do you believe? Do you believe anybody? Do you think we really know what’s going on down south of us?

I do know this much for sure. The beaches on the Mississippi coast are beautiful, open for business and awaiting masses of summer vacationers to help put their business in the black, some for the first time since Katrina.

So if you are skeptical about going, don’t be, go ahead and enjoy yourself.

But pack some extra duct tape, a few corks, some packing peanuts and maybe even throw in the kitchen sink, because you never know when someone may come up to you and ask for your help to plug that hole.

But I say this, “BP stick a finger in it.”

You get the picture.
(Contact award-winning columnist Sherry Hopkins at swhcsc@wildblue.net.)