Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
We put our trust in the people we elect to government and we have faith that people who make it to highest levels at multinational corporations are intelligent and morally-conscious enough to act responsibly on our collective behalf when making decisions. When we see that these individuals have thrown caution to the wind and behaved in such a thoughtless and selfish manner, we rightfully feel taken advantage of, disrespected, and played for a fool. We’re angry that the BP officials pushed beyond the realm of efficiency into one of imminent danger, knowingly, simply to maximize profits. We’re even angrier that they didn’t have a clear, effective, tested contingency plan in place for when a disaster like this one occurs. And we’re angriest that our government, who is there to protect the interests of the people, didn’t demand that such a plan be in place. We have every right to be this angry.
So…now what?
It’s time to channel that anger into action. It feels like the wheels have all but come off the car in this country. And as a concerned public, we’re stepping it up. But we need to do so intelligently. You can bet this year’s elections will show our growing outrage, and people in positions of power, whether warranted or not, will be sent packing. We already see the evidence of collective outrage over the economy in the form of the Tea Party. Has there been an increase in enlistment to Greenpeace? Have new organizations formed to harness the energy being created based on the disgust over BP’s practices and the ever growing oil spill? I’m thinking yes…
I’d argue that while we have a right to be angry, we have a responsibility to react responsibly. For ways to put anger into action, please visit www.greatergood.org.
You can read this article and others on my new blog for YAHOO SHINE! http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/bp-oil-and-anger-management-1795397
