Gulf Coast Oil Spill Hitting Home

I have family that live down at the Gulf and they are really seeing and feeling the effects that this devastating event. They have seen the all the fishing shut down leaving many fishermen without jobs. They have seen tourism numbers dwindle. The oils spill really could not happen at a more inopportune time. With the Summer arriving I am sure that the numbers will continue to be low as tourists will avoid the beach.

I also have a friend that shots beach weddings and as soon as this happened his completely booked Summer line-up of jobs were canceled.

Upon visiting family recently I could just feel that the emotions down there are so low. For a lot of people the beach is kind of like a sanctuary. A place that they can go to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and just relax and take in God’s beauty. Now that for the time has been taken away and it is hurting them. Even more than they may think.

Another thing that I noticed while I was down there was that many feel the media cost many areas in the Gulf a couple of months of when they could have had tourists. They feel that they made it sound like it was awful when it really was not even showing up in some areas until months after the initial spill.

Anyway, those are some of my thoughts on the situation and my prayers go to all of my family and others that live down on the Gulf, because only time will tell what the extent of this event has caused.

The following are a couple of clips that I saw recently on MSNBC from writer Andy Andrews (The Traveler’s Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success and The Noticer). He lives down close to the Gulf and he is seeing the effects of the oils actually coming up inter-coastal waterways through some of the barriers that have been put up to protect just that.