Being a resident of Southwest Louisiana, it is hard to have a conversation with any fellow Cajun and not have the topic turn to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Typically these exchanges can be characterized as containing anger at the BP, anger at the Federal government, angst for those in the fishing industry, concern for our coastline, estuaries and marshes, worries about the future of our seafood, our culture and our way of life. There is also great economic fear that the oil industry as we have known it will either disappear or be greatly marginalized. The ripple effect of any or all of these will directly impact every resident of Louisiana and indirectly every resident of the United States.
It would seem that all of our options are not good. That may be, but that does not mean that the only possible outcome must be apocalyptic. The lesson that we all need to heed is that it is so easy to give up hope when you’re in the middle of the maelstrom, but in so doing, you almost guarantee that what you fear most will materialize. Rather, when any situation turns bleak and dark, that is the precise time when you should discard pessimism and replace it with fortitude, patience, and a positive attitude. Shed the blame game, forget about being a victim, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Banish the idea that “there is no way” and replace it with “there is a way and I am committed to work diligently until I find it.”
Certainly in today’s societal environment with the media’s obsession with portraying every story in its darkest light, with politicians more concerned with their looking good than the good of the people and with a general attitude that solutions without struggle should be the expected norm, it is very challenging to maintain a “can do” attitude. I do believe that the people of Southwest Louisiana are more attuned to not giving up. For generations we’ve been taught that we can work our way to good fortune and work our way out of bad fortune but we can only do so if we work hard. So let’s not get caught up in the blame and recrimination game. There will be plenty of time for that when this crisis is past. Encourage all to remain calm, committed and positive. This is not a just a plan for dealing with the Gulf oil slick, it is truly a life plan.
As Victor Frankl, a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps said, “Everything can be taken from a man but…the last of human freedoms – to chose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
And, lastly, I’d like to share with you the wisdom and guidance I’ve found in the story of The Old Mule:
Once upon a time a farmer owned an old mule who tripped and fell into the farmer’s well. The farmer heard the mule braying and was unable to figure out how to bring up the old animal. It grieved him that he could not pull the animal out. He’d been a good worker around the farm. Although the farmer sympathized with the mule, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened. He had them help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and quietly put him out of his misery.
At first, the old mule was puzzled, but as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, he had a thought: he ought to shake off the dirt and step up. And he did just that.
“Shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up…shake it off and step up.” Even though he took painful blows of dirt and fought panic, he just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up!
It wasn’t long before the old mule stepped up and over the lip of that well. What could have buried him actually blessed him…all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.
Bill Bacque