Questions for those politicians who minimize our plight and waste their sympathies on the ones responsible for this environmental catastrophe . . .
Have you ever seen a horizon defined by the twinkling lights of shrimp boats on a warm summer night?
Have you ever watched, fascinated, as a pelican in flight suddenly dives beneath the waves to catch a fish?
Have you ever noticed that sea gulls, when they gather on the beach, always face into the wind?
Have you ever wondered just how they manage to keep their feathers so white?
Have you ever watched with amusement as tiny terns scamper at the water’s edge on those fragile, spindly little legs?
Have you ever filled your lungs with such fresh, salty air that you could feel it right down to your toes?
Have you ever noticed that sailboats on a sunny day look like white butterflies against the blue water?
Have you ever taken off your shoes and walked along the shoreline at the end of a long, hot day and felt the cool sand beneath your feet?
If you’ve never experienced any of these things, I feel desperately sorry for you. If you have, then and only then can you begin to understand the depth of heartbreak that those of us along this beautiful coast are feeling as the oil comes closer to our shores. If our tears could wash it all away, it would most certainly be gone by now.
Jessie Heitzman, Pass Christian, MS