One of my favorite movies was made in 1959. It is "On The Beach" starring Gregory Peck.
The plot is simple - in the movie World War III occurred in 1964. It was a nuclear holocaust and the radiation fallout was spreading across the planet killing everyone. Australia was the last place where people were alive. It had a very deep feeling of gloom and doom. Everyone longed for the good old days before the people of the world were on a path to wipe themselves out.
This weekend a giant oil spill is working its way toward the best beaches in the world - the Florida Panhandlel. If you have never been there - the sand reminds you of powdered sugar - it is that white and fluffy. The other day - while Florida's legislature was trying to pass a law allowing oil drilling along the coast - a giant oil rig caught on fire and free oil was pouring into the ocean at the rate of 5000 barrels a day. The super sad part of it is that the oil line break is 3 miles under water - and no one knows how to stop it. The oil rig is owned by British Petroleum - and like Pilot - they are washing their hands - obviously nowhere near their rig.
This vanguard wave of oil is traveling across the ocean like a slow tsunami. It will hit our shores in the next three days.
Now the experts are telling us that it is leaking more like 20,000 barrels a day - and shows no sign of letting up. This is not some Exxon Valdez tanker with an end in sight - this is a bottomless pit.
The Florida Legislature closed its session on Friday.
I hear a gentle chorus of "Waltzing Matilda" in the back of my mind as I hold my grandson's little fist in my one hand and I grab a handful of Florida's most valuable asset in the other. Will he ever be able to share a moment like this with his grandson?
