Ode to the Gulf of Mexico...

I have been working on this mixed media collage on and off, and it finally came together, in kind of a sad way, but with HOPE, that we, the human species, will change with the progress and horror of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
I want to say that I'm so sorry to the dolphins, the turtles, the various species of fish, the ospreys, the egrets, the herons, the pelicans, the Thomson's plowers, the snowy egrets, the gulls, the aingas, the coral reefs, the sea horses, the shrimps, the oysters, the squid, the crabs, all of the species that have to suffer from the oil spill.  I'm appalled at the stupidity of the human species, and the greed that governs all!

I have walked along the shores of the Gulf so many times, totally wrapped up in my own agendas and problems, and then have my spirits lift as a dolphin plows out of the water and jumps with joy into the air, maybe 50 feet from the shore. I love the sound of the waves surging against the white sand, and all the wildlife surging with it.  I remember the day when there were hundreds of stranded squid on the beach, and how we threw them back into the turquoise water with the sun diamonds dancing across the waves.  I remember the shoe horse crab frenzy of mating, that had the beach covered with them, and some that were left behind because they were washed over with the sand.
I remember the gesture of gratitude eye-to-eye after saving one of the horseshoe crabs from suffocation in the sand.  (If that's what happens to them.)  These are memories that come to mind after a decade of living in Florida and walking on the beaches, and I can't tell you about the sadness felt in Louisiana at this time, because they see the pelicans diving into the oil, looking for food.

I just don't know how it's possible to do so much pollution!  And so much damage!  Why don't we learn...?
I don't want to be a downer, but my whole world is turned upside down with the thoughts of what we're doing to the sea.  I LOVE the sea that keeps on giving and giving and giving.  It's time to soul search--how much do we need the oil?  Can we support a simpler lifestyle, or alternative fuel?  This is a time of choice, and to live by that choice.  Please let's get together and pray to what feels good to you that major change for the better will be the result of this atrocity