Can Jimmy Buffet Help?

Jimmy Buffet has bought a hotel on Pensacola Beach, which will be the first ever Margaritaville Hotel. Having grown up in Florida, Buffet's music was the backdrop of my young years, loving his albums, A1A and Living and Dying in 3/4 Time. A lot of people cannot relate to Parrot Heads but believe me, if you have grown up around here like I have, his music is as familiar and comforting as the blood running through your veins. You cannot sit atop the white, sugary sands of Pensacola Beach and look out at that beautiful emerald green and Caribbean blue water and not hum, "Mother, mother Ocean, I have heard you call..."

But, I wondered about the timing of purchasing this property. Either it will really help the economy here, or it was a stupid move on his part. We won't know until it all plays out.

I am talking, of course, about the enormous gulf oil spill. The oil reached our shores a few days ago. Each morning we watch the "Gulf Oil Tracker" on our local morning news. You've probably already seen Sam Champion from Good Morning America here and CNN. In fact, my sister and I went yesterday to the beach to check things out. The beaches are still beautiful. Many people were out, but there were not too many in the water. Our beaches are still open but awaiting the Coast Guard to close them. Small groups (very small, maybe 4 people?) in suits and gloves, BP employees apparently, were picking up debris (which included a dead, oil-soaked pelican). It just seemed strange as all around them people played and business at the beach went on as usual.

We stopped to eat lunch at a picnic table just outside of the Gulf Island National Seashore on Fort Pickens. Lib was just dying to go into the water. He feels the pull of the ocean and he loves it so. I only let him play in the water a little bit. Then, my sister said she smelled petroleum. We left to go to the museum at Fort Pickens and when I was wiping the sand off of Liberty, there was a trace of oil staining his foot! Apparently, the oil is beneath the sand.

I keep telling myself that there are always new beginnings in endings.

Endings are on the minds of all of us who live along this beautiful Gulf coast. Did you know that 40% of the world's seafood comes out of the Gulf? Did you also know there are 4600 oil rigs and platforms in the Gulf? So many people are more concerned about the economy than the wildlife. They don't seem to understand that on top of lost jobs, of a loss of a way of life, indeed an end of an era that is happening right before our eyes, the food chain is being broken. If the plankton die, so does everything else. If the oil kills our coral reefs, the seabed nurseries of so much life, then nothing can survive. Will the Gulf become a dead sea? This is what we mean my catastrophe of worldwide proportions. When the oil first began gushing, no one here was talking this way because it had not shown up yet. Even the local newscasters were very careful (instructed?) to make sure they re-iterated emphatically that our beaches were still open for business. "No oil on our shores!," they boasted. And of course, BP had given businesses in Florida millions to advertise this fact and try to help the beach businesses prevent loss of sales.

I recall in many apocalyptic predictions of the sea turning red. Well, the oil sheen turns the water red. Is this the end of times?

I really do not believe in the end of the world, literally. But, perhaps this event heralds the end of the world as we now know it. And it's high time. I believe we are in the dawn of a new age, Earth II. We have got to acknowledge our relationship with nature and work with Her if we are to survive.

It would be very easy to become depressed and believe me there is a lot of that around here as you might imagine. But my sister and I were discussing this yesterday. I do not want to put my focus on what has already happened - I cannot do anything about that. The best use of my energy then would be to focus on where I can be of help. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. I am not sure where to focus my energy yet, but I am trying to think positively, hoping a path will open up. Since the oil is still gushing, it really is anybody's guess where we will be by August.

Please see my sister Susan's blog for some really great pictures and articles on what is happening here. All we can do is photograph it and let others know what is happening so we do not allow this to ever happen again. If we don't change now, then we are surely lost.

Will people come to Jimmy's place just to see the last of the Great Gulf? Will we be able to breathe the air when we do? If anything, maybe having Jimmy's place can help us forget our troubles for a little while and maybe also to remember what we have and appreciate it and be proactive. You can read what he said here as he walked with Governor Crist on our beach on Saturday. I wish I had not missed it.

In the meantime instead of feeling helpless, I got this visualization from Adam Dreamhealer. I think I will use it. I am setting up an alter on my fireplace mantle. I have my shells around me, my pictures, the treasures this place has brought us.

Please pray for us. Pray for the Gulf. It affects the entire world. Don't become desensitized to what is happening by the television. We do need a miracle right now. Let's all put our hearts and minds there. Please include the great Gulf of Mexico and all of its magnificent creatures and people who live and work here in your daily prayers and meditation. Mind is non local, it has no boundary of skin. What you think and feel does affect the world.