E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Grand Isle, La.—From a sand levee on this barrier island, about two dozen people lined up facing the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday morning. They held hands, and bowed their heads to pray…
"…for the lives that were lost, the wildlife that is suffering and a way of life in danger."
The ceremony was an effort to look ahead, beyond the current state of crisis and uncertainty.
"We need something positive. There's just too much negativity around this oil spill," said Bobbi Harrison, who organized the prayer session through friends and family here, and through a Facebook page, Cajuns for our Coast. Harrison, who grew up on this seven-mile long strip of sand and graduated from Grand Isle High School, says she is also raising money to buy school supplies for kids in the community whose families are struggling because of the fishing closures, and tough economy.
After a local lay pastor gave a prayer, a PA system brought to the levee on the back of a pick-up truck broadcast a bell chiming 11 times—once each for the men who died in the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion in April.
Then the group looked out to the ocean, seemingly past the stretch of beach that is off limits except to clean-up workers, and past booms on the water's edge.
Not only are the beaches off limits, but this normally sedate beach town is crawling with temporary clean-up workers from "outside." About 200 yards up the beach from where they stand is an encampment of workers and the tell-tale white tents of the response operation.
The large influx has put a strain on Grand Isle, according to locals. Every motel room is occupied, and a steady stream of trucks navigate the narrow two lane road through town. And locals say there is now theft in a small town where it was unheard of before.
"It's a catastrophe for our community," said Helen Rockenschuh, who retired here with her husband five years ago. "We are bombarded with extra people right now…The community is not the same."
Photo by Kari Huus/msnbc.com
To end the ceremony, participants stepped forward to cast shells and rocks toward the sea — each with a different wish painted on it.
Some spoke to the bigger issues: "We want our lives back," says a pink shell. "We want fishing back," says a rock. Others, to the little things they longed for: "Walking on the beach," "crabs," and "dogs chasing birds on the shore."
The wishes were launched toward the sea. But with a broad cordoned-off strip of beach between the levee and water, the shells and stones landed silently in the sand.
Leave a Comment:
Tonight I'm praying for world peace. Let me know how it works out tomorrow.
As Abraham Lincoln said, "I have been driven to my knees many times by the realization that I had nowhere else to turn." Something like that! You get the point.
ok- iam am up her in vancouver canada-home of 2010 olympid-herev we beat the usa hockey team[our compatriots]and of course russian team[we shut them down.........]noe all of us weep for you folks-big oil is basically catastrophy-going back 30 years-i have a list of all disasters-ugly-in nigeris spillage continues unchecked????????????good god??????????????the world bodies have to clamp down-NOW-JDENISHUGGARD@HOTMAIL.COM
I'll send a prayer every night for all creatures great and small affected by this horrible accident.
I choose not to pray. Rather, I choose to demand that those HUMANS who have created this disiaster thru their hard work at turning the biggest profit possible while disregarding the lives and environment of all those around them direct all their efforts to correcting this injustice.
Prayer will do nothing. Demanding and FORCING those pigs to clean up their mess is the only thing that will help the Gulf.
It seems all of the millions of people which chose to attempt to prevent this disaster by the Oil Barons had no effect except the Floridians which never acquiesced to the pressure to allow drilling. And a lot of prayers were made along w/ the actions. The Environmental Impacts from any other well leak/hemorrhage is likely to finish the job against humanity once and for all, albeit with increasingly apparent results and reverberations throughout the Ecosystem.
Don't stop now, no matter which course(s) you choose.
God Bless Us All. We need it.
God bless and HELP the people and wildlife in the gulf. I pray that BP gets their damn oil leak STOPPED THIS WEEK!
And I also pray that BP pays whateever it costs to clean up all the damage they've caused AND ALSO RESTORE the wildlife and environment to the way it way before their GREEDY CARELESSNESS destroyed it.
In Jesus Name, Amen!
Prayer to some old guy in the sky won't help of course, but I agree that greedy carelessness by big oil caused it. Let them burn in the oil mess they created.
Ahh. I feel better already knowing that FINALLY some go getters are letting The Lord know what is actually going on down here! It's about time! Great initiative...
However, wasn’t The Lord watching before this entire mess started, or was he on break?
Somehow, God is apparently not aware that this is even taking place, and presumably, if enough people pray, they will get His attention so that He can then fix this catastrophe. Is that correct?
I’m not sure why He didn’t just prevent it, and every other giant mess/disaster/war we face on the planet, in the first place. And exactly how many prayers/seashells does he need to receive before he gets on it? Sooo many questions...
But Okily dokily...
Some might say He is letting us reap our just desserts, however unjust.
come on lets get some help out there
"We need something positive. There's just too much negativity around this oil spill," said Bobbi Harrison,"...
Too much negativity, Bobbi? The wildlife doesn't really get a second chance, remember? Your bible says they don't go to heaven. So they just lost their one and only shot to live. ONE AND ONLY, BOBBI.
Well, thanks for thinking of us, maybe the whales, dolphins, sharks, fish, birds, et al. might say, IF THEY COULD SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES, but we'd actually rather be ALIVE, if it's all the same to you.
And if I were in their shoes, I'd probably add "What'd I ever do to YOU?"Â
I understand the yearning one feels to "do something" when events like this occur. I have those feelings too (and I live in south Louisiana) so I can relate to those base urges. Rites such as these will make one feel a bit better about being helpless to correct the problem but dancing around in the moonlight and getting drunk would do just as much good. Rational thinking people learn not to rely on prayer but to take action where possible or learn to let those who can and are able to take action do so. Instead of whinning and praying, I'd hope these folks are looking to take a constructive mindset and do whatever they can to aid those working on this problem, albeit adding critizism where indicated. As for the wildlife, I do weep daily for those who share no iota of blame in this mess we humans have created. Their loss is unforgivable.
If one wishes to pray that is their choice, but I question the value of prayer without adding a little hard work or other efforts along with it.