Yesterday I caught the commercial with the CEO of BP explaining that they know they are responsible for the oil spill and that they are truly sorry for the ungodly mess that they have made. That commercial was targeted for women who cry at Hallmark commercials because, folks, I felt sorry for him.
Put down the things you are about to throw at me.
Sure his company ignored all of the warnings that the oil rig was a mess, but how many of us take the batteries out of our smoke alarms because we are sick of having them go off every time we roast a chicken?
The Hallmark commercial people know that about us.
This guy, this CEO, didn't PLAN to have the worst environmental nightmare on record. In fact, he is probably regretting that he is CEO at all. Bad timing on his part.
The thought I had was that people, companies, governments - everyone - makes bad decisions from time to time. We all make mistakes that impact other people and yet we all want forgiveness. We all want someone to have compassion. Even the guy from BP.
Public Citizen is asking to boycott BP, but that seems fruitless. It is BP this time, but it could/will be Exxon/Chevron/OPEC next time. Boycotting one company when they are all, probably, committing the same acts of neglect seem small and petty. Better to understand our dependence on oil and ween ourselves from that; if we are truly seeking change.
The idea that these companies operate with a determined amount of risk is no different then any other company, family, person. We all have areas that we judge to be safe enough, or we are willing to live with the consequences if things fall apart in that area. In my life, we live without health insurance and that is a risk that many would find unbearable, but we are comfortable with that in our lives and we have been lucky. Granted, most corporate entities feel that money/profit is more important then human/planet life, but we do to every time one of us decides to use toxic chemicals on our plants, drive after drinking, or have unprotected sex with a stranger. Our scale is smaller, but no less important.
So, compassion, it doesn't take the place of responsibility, but it has to be part of the equation because we are infinitely human and Hallmark knows that.
