Today while reading the wonderful diaries here at Kos, I decided it was time for an afternoon snack. I was hungry. Should I raid that bag of chips on top of the fridge? Nah, I wanted something a bit more substantial.
I peered into the refrigerator and realized that I just wasn't in the mood for another ham sandwich. I opened the freezer and found the perfect solution to my midday hunger. I thought to myself... this is great, I completely forgot about buying these, they will be delicious, just the thing to make me happy.
Stuffed crab shells. Yum! I'm a seafood lover. I'm a Floridian - eastern coast. I've been enjoying these since I was seven years old.
I've tipped and rec'd the Gulf Coast diaries and motherships. I've seen the videos of tar covered beaches. I've sat in my living room and wiped silent tears from my cheeks while reading about the devastation taking place along the Gulf. I've shared your fury over the failure to protect small children from toxic beaches. I've forced myself to look at the pictures of pelicans and turtles gasping for breath in a sea of oil.
I've done the math. I know BP can never pay as much as they now owe the American people.
So, it's hard to express just why the little white sticker on my package of frozen stuffed crab shells hit me so hard today. I never even noticed it at the store.
The sticker reads:
Due to conditions in the Gulf of Mexico there is a shortage of crab shells. During this time, enjoy the same delicious product in a cook-in artificial shell. Cook the same way: Bake, Fry or Microwave and you can recycle the shell too. Thank you for your understanding in our efforts to continue bringing quality Ocean "Trademark name" Stuffed Crabs to your table.
I stood still for a moment. So many things rushed through my mind. Memories of years spent walking along white sand beaches and picking up brightly speckled orange and white crab shells. They were so easy to find, abundant, even.
I remembered the smiles on my children's faces as they watched the little crabs quickly burrow under the warm summer sand. I remembered how thrilled we all were to gently hold them in our hands for a moment or two.
I flipped over a frozen lump and looked at the new recyclable plastic shell. It is just a dead piece of plastic. It will never crawl, swim or burrow. It cannot possibly fill my future grand-children's faces with awe and excitement.
I thought of the jobs destroyed. The local fishermen. The noisy and crowded seafood restaurants. A beloved way of life forever altered.
My appetite was now gone. No longer hungry at all, instead feeling a fierce need to try and change this. I know I can't restore the Gulf but I can use my voice to try and stop this madness of drilling off shore.
It's easy to take something like our oceans for granted when you've always found her gifts so easily available and plentiful. Today a peek into my freezer reminded me that she can be (is being) harmed.
I will be calling my representatives again to demand that we do a better job of protecting our oceans. I hope you will consider making another call to yours as well. Our voices are still needed.
