The Ignored Human Toll

11 men died when the oil rig blew up that lead to the current environmental disaster in the Gulf Of Mexico. But many people don't know that, because they care more for animals than humans.

Adam Weise, Jason Anderson (a father of two), Aaron Dale Burkeen, Karl Kleppinger Jr., Shane Roshto, Dewey Revette, Gordon Lewis Jones, Donald Clark, Stephen Curtis, Roy Kemp, and Blair Manuel. 11 real people with real lives and real families are lost to those families and friends. But what do we see in the major media?

Oil soaked birds. Such images do not even come close to an equal moral standing with lost human life.

This is not to say that what we are faced with isn't important. Even the families of those killed agree that the environmental accident must be contained and cleaned up as quickly as possible. But they fear, and rightly so, that their loved ones will be forgotten.

Say what you want, those men were out there helping to get the oil we need for our day to day lives. They lost their lives doing a great service, and at no small risk to themselves, as recent history has demonstrated. That wildlife has been harmed is sad too, but not nearly on the same level. That the local environment has been compromised is bad, but nowhere near as bad as the fact of dads not coming home after work. Even the extended human cost in terms of lost income for people in the region who live off of it is regrettable, but not so awful compared to the plights of the men who are gone, and their families. Nature is resilient; she will recover, with or without our help. The local economy will rebound eventually, and those still living have the daily opportunity to adjust. But these men will never be with us again. Their fates are sealed.

That is the salient point, which many forget or ignore or simply do not realize. We do no service to man or nature when we do not see things in the proper perspective.