I watch the news with great interest these days. Anytime they talk about B.P. or the damage that the oil spill has inflicted on the Gulf coast I feel a knot tie up in the bottom of my stomach. See I work for a B.P. gas station. I have for what’s going on six years now. I spent my summers on the very beaches that are now being destroyed by the oil spill. 

Some might say that it should be easy for me to quit my job. That I know what is going on is wrong. They might say I should understand why everyone is so upset. I do understand but I understand a few other things as well. I understand that I have children who have to eat. I understand that there are bills that must be paid. I understand that one of the hardest things to find these days is a job. 

Understand it breaks my heart to see the beaches I played on covered in oil. I think about all the fun my cousins and I had trying to make a sand castle. I remember enjoying running along the shoreline all day as the sun cooked my skin. I even remember all the nights I was lucky enough to watch the stars wink down at the sandy heavens on earth I was lucky to stand on. 

I am not happy by any means by what has happened. I understand that there are many who are out of jobs because they can no longer fish for their paychecks. I understand that there are businesses who are suffering due to the fact that tourists aren’t going to come see a beach covered in oil. 

My question is by leave my place of employment how do I help these people who have already lost so much? Is quitting my job going to clean up the beaches? Sadly the answer is no. Instead there will be ten people waiting in line for the one position I have made available and I will be but yet another person in that long line of unemployment that continues to grow. 

All I can do is keep praying that maybe something will change. That somewhere there is someone with the help needed to correct this problem. Hopefully we can work towards fixing this problem together and find ways to prevent it happening yet again.