A Culture is Dying

A way of life is dying here in Louisiana and no one but us seems to see the urgency in containing the oil spewing from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon. It is really sad to pray for containment as this should have never happened, but it has, and we need to stop it some way, somehow. As I have followed this story over the last 47 days, my thoughts return to the place I grew up…..”down the bayou” as we call it here, specifically lower Terrebonne Parish. I remember what a simple life it was. Most people lived off of the land, fishing, hunting, trapping for a living. We didn’t have many modern conveniences, but that was ok. Our entertainment was made up of fishing, swimming, and playing “make believe” war. I grew up during the Vietnam War Era and that was pretty much all that was on the 3 channels we got from our outside antennae. Yes 3 channels – Channel 4 (CBS), Channel 6 (ABC), and Channel 8 (NBC). We didn’t watch much TV. We were sent outside to play, as parents tried to protect us from the tragedies going on overseas in Vietnam. I do remember watching the landing on the moon though. I also remember playing “cowboys and Indians” too, as that was popular shows on TV….ie. Gunsmoke, Ponderosa, etc. However, that was it. Although we were required to go to school, school was not important to most. They knew they could make a living off of the land, so why waste your time in school. I have gone back a few times since my early childhood. Progress has grown into the bayou, but for the most part it is still the same. The cane fields are replaced with subdivisions of large homes, convenience stores have popped up, etc. However, the backbone – that simple way of life is still there – hidden among those modern conveniences. Just a small group of people choose to lead this simple life now as most kids grow up, as I did, and move away to the excitement of bigger cities. The media has spent most of their coverage trying to find who to blame….BP, Transocean, the state gov’t, the fed. gov’t, President Obama, etc. The truth of the matter is that we are all at fault. Everyone in the United States of America is at fault. We want the oil. We use the oil for these modern conveniences. We complain when the price of gas rise - we scream “drill, baby, drill.” We complain when the price drops (jobs are lost due to less drilling in the gulf). Coastal Louisiana has been used and abused by this great nation and its people. Supply and demand has given way to the abuse. Now this great nation and its people owe it back to Louisiana and the people who choose to lead the simple way of life – caring for, protecting, and using Louisiana for only what we need to survive. Screw drilling for oil in the gulf. Since Sarah Palin wants to “drill, baby, drill”, let Alaska pay the price now for our modern conveniences. Leave the Gulf of Mexico alone. Let Louisiana heal. Let the Cajun people nurse Louisiana back to health. If you don’t like it……MOVE TO ALASKA! The Cajun Coast and its people have had a rough 5 years….first Katrina. We were left for dead, then, picked up by busses and scattered all over the nation. Many have yet to return. Does anyone realize that the Cajun people of Coastal Louisiana survived the worst natural disaster in American History and now must survive the worst environmental disaster in American History? Neither of which we asked for. We are a tough bunch of people. Our ancestors, the Acadians, who were deported from Nova Scotia and sent to Louisiana over 200 years ago, proved they were tough enough to start over and even flourish in an area no one else wanted – the Louisiana swamps and bayous. We have their blood running through our veins……we can do it again. I’m sad. I want Anderson Cooper to come and show what it is doing to the Cajun people’s way of life. New Orleans will survive this, but “down the bayou” won’t. What will my people do? They won’t leave the bayou. They won’t give up or give in. How will they survive if this oil destroys their home? I want to do something, but what? I just sit, watch, pray, hope, pray some more. I watch my people as reporters say the same thing. We want to do something, but what? It is really hard to sit, to watch, to hope that the people who are calling the shots know what they are doing. I hope they know that they are holding a whole culture in the palms of their hands. Only time will tell.