BETTYE FOSTER BAKER
508-696-9983
“Ich bin ein Berliner,” (“I am a Berliner”) were the words the late President John F. Kennedy spoke during his June 26, 1963 speech in West Berlin, Germany to show U.S. support for this beleaguered city after the Soviet-backed East Berlin built the Berlin wall. Similarly, in the aftermath of the great BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Island communities of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and most specifically, Oak Bluffs, which has the longest visible shore line on Martha’s Vineyard, “We are all Gulf People.”
Why an issue? We have been maligned. Some politicians and political pundits have proclaimed with certitude that had the spill occurred here on Martha’s Vineyard, or Nantucket, there would have been different responses from the federal government and BP. The implication is that we are politically privileged; that we lack empathy for our fellow Americans in the Gulf, suggesting our Island is oblivious to the plight of those in the Gulf region; that we are elites who would not have suffered the same fate had the disaster happened here; and finally, that the federal government would have solved the problem by now.
It is dismaying that some politicians have made the comparison. Yet solutions to the problem have been offered across the region by the best minds in the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, our Martha’s Vineyard neighbors who have partnered with Louisiana State University and Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium to determine the myriad impacts of the spill and find possible solutions to solve this long-term problem.
As we have watched the aftermath of the vast BP oil spill, commonly referred to as the Deepwater Horizon disaster, play out before our very eyes, where thousands of barrels of oil spread across the Gulf of Mexico like an underwater molasses hydrant, I have talked with no one who does not have great empathy for those whose shores and peoples have suffered greatly. We’ve watched families and friends grapple with the complexity of an unprecedented problem-defying solution, knowing that those who live here, in this place some call paradise, are one cement failure away from a similar catastrophe, should oil rigs spring up along our shores; so that empathy also carries with it the reality and a deep concern that it could happen here.
Many of us know people and have family members who live in the Gulf region, whose personal and economic lives have been altered inexorably. All of these people have been subjected to a double disaster in their lives, Hurricane Katrina and now the oil spill.
Daily, I gaze across Nantucket Sound from the Inkwell, Sylvia beaches, the Oak Bluffs harbor, in awe of its beauty. At times the color nears the magnificent cobalt blue of the Mediterranean. Its magnificence more often than not defies verbal description, yet its profoundness never eludes the heart or the spiritual connection residing inside each of us. The same is true, if not more up-Island where the mighty Atlantic roars in at high tide and recedes gently kissing the ancient shores of Aquinnah. For eons humankind has depended upon these waters that stretch across the world, not just for sustenance, but for the sheer magic of delighting in and touching that illusive something that slips through the hand, that flows in and out between our toes when we’re one with the water standing, swimming, that life yielding something that is never static, but at once moves on to another destination, to another something or someone.
The ebb and flow of tides dictated by the gravitational pull of the moon have come to be events we take for granted unless our livelihood depends upon it. On this Island there are those who make a living fishing for lobster, conch, oysters and fish. For them it is less about inspiration and more about survival though they retain the deepest respect and love of a bounteous sea. And for both, those who seek inspiration and those who know and depend upon the tides for the benefit of our tables, there is much to contemplate about what the oil spill in Louisiana would mean to the pristine sea and beaches here that we have come to love and depend upon.
Unlike our coastline and deep ponds, most of the Louisiana coast is marshland, and we have seen delicate marshes and birds soaked in oil, weighed down, unable to fly. We have witnessed dead turtles, fish and birds; too many have died. We have seen staggering amounts of pure crude spill from the seas to one of the few sandy beaches in Louisiana, Fourchon Beach, devastated by globs of tar balls. We have learned that life-giving oxygen is being depleted, livelihoods and jobs lost, maybe forever. It could happen here, on our precious Island, and we care and so does our federal government. To the politicians, it must be said, “We are an integral part of this great nation taking unto ourselves all that affects it. Don’t tread on us!”
A child’s pink, inflatable raft saved a man in trouble in the water at the town beach Monday. John and Judy Brosnan of Lexington were in the water, but it was a woman by the name of Pam who saw Bill first. She heard him say he was unsure of his feet. That was the moment John and Judy, who overhead the conversation, rushed to his aid. They helped him onto the small pink raft and guided him to shore. They reassured his granddaughter Tory before she accompanied him to the hospital, and today he is just fine. I witnessed the end of the incident when my granddaughter, Julianne, who had been swimming with her friend Nanyamkah, asked, as we were leaving the beach, why all those people were there and what was happening. Nanyamkah’s grandmother, Jackie Washington, and I had been keeping such a close watch on the girls that we were surprised to see him. As he lay on the edge of the beach, he moved his arms across his chest and we knew he was okay. Our Oak Bluffs EMTs were there to assist. How fortunate we are that people pay attention, that they help each other in time of need. We learned later that he had experienced a seizure.
The United Methodist Church of Martha’s Vineyard which includes parishioners from the Edgartown Methodist Church (Old Whaling Church), the United Methodist Church (Stone Church) in Vineyard Haven, and Trinity Methodist Church in Oak Bluffs (behind the Tabernacle) have a new gig in town at the Trinity Church ParishHouse acrossfrom theTabernacle that you will not want to miss. They have started their delicious crab cake suppers a gain this summer and there is no better place to get a more scrumptious meal at the fantastic price of $12! They are held Wednesdays from 6 to 7 p.m. or until sold out. Get there early. They also have hot dog meals for $5. You can eat your meal at the church or take it out. The crab cakes are homema de and absolutely delicious. Proceeds from the suppers go to various mission and/orcommunity outreach programs that the church supports. Questions? E-mail Sandy Joyce at sfjoyce@comcast.net.
The Sunday, July 18, 10 a.m. Union Chapel interdenominational service will feature the Rev. Alvan N. Johnson of Bethel AME Church of Hartford, Conn. Informal attire is acceptable. The organ prelude begins at 9:45 am. On Sunday at 9:30 a.m. the preacher for the Tabernacle worship service will be the Rev. Ed Kilbourne, a folk theologian from Rock Hill, S.C.
Have a special celebration or event in the works? Guests coming to share the Island experience? E-mail me and tell me all about it. All the best!
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