How selfish we've been.

Never mind Louisiana; BP oil executive is suffering How selfish we've been. Oil has been gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a month, and all we've been able to talk about here in South Louisiana is how it's making our lives miserable. We've talked about fish, shrimp and oysters and how -- thanks to BP's undersea oil geyser -- we might have to grow used to life without them. We've talked about the damage to our coast. Our marshes are our natural protection against hurricanes, and if parts of our grassy protection are killed off by oil, our vulnerability to storms increases. We've talked about our perilous economic state. Tourism is going to suffer no matter how many assurances we give the world that people should still visit Louisiana. Additionally, President Obama's decision to temporarily suspend deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf -- and potentially cripple one of the state's largest industries -- is yet another hardship attributable to BP and its inability to stop polluting our state. He says as a Brit he's able to take the public criticism he's received.Then there's our state bird. A previously endangered species, the brown pelican was on the rise. Now we see our iconic birds covered in a thick, dark goop that anchors them to the ground, and we fume at the oil giant that's responsible.

Selfishness, all of it. In the midst of our navel-gazing we haven't even considered what the ongoing tragedy is doing to BP CEO Tony Hayward. Fortunately, though, Hayward was on a call with BP investors and analysts Friday when somebody was thoughtful enough to ask him how he's been holding up during his country's scorched-water assault on Louisiana. The Telegraph of London said Hayward's comeback "stunned his audience." "I'm a Brit," he said. "I can take it." He says that now; but for a while there it seemed like Hayward was going to falter. I, at least, was worried about him. During a recent trip to Venice he gave reporters a message for people whose livelihoods have been put on hold by BP: "We're sorry for the massive disruption it's caused their lives," he said. "There's no one who wants this over more than I do. I would like my life back." Of course, some people took that the wrong way, and Hayward was pressured to crawfish. "I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment ... when I said that 'I wanted my life back," he said Wednesday on Facebook. "When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident." He also said something about how it's his priority to restore our lives, "not mine." Don't be modest, Tony. We know our feelings are secondary to yours. Really, we can't imagine how this is making you feel.

A New York Daily News headline describes you as "the most hated -- and most clueless -- man in America." A popular satirical newspaper says the amount of bull excrement "still gushing from the headquarters of oil giant BP could prove catastrophic if nothing is done to contain it." That's about you, Tony. Can you believe that? Don't know if I could take it, me. Of course, I'm not British. I don't have the stiff upper lip needed to get me through such an ordeal. Nor do I have anything approaching the $4.6 million BP gave you last year for being the public face of the company. Remember what you said April 15 at BP's Annual General Meeting?

You said, "Safety remains our number one priority, and I'm pleased to report we can see clear progress. There has been a significant reduction in the frequency of recordable injuries and the number of major incidents related to integrity failures has also fallen." Five days later, the Deepwater Horizon rig blew up, 11 men died, and soon there was enough oil was spilling into the Gulf to make your life some kind of miserable. Louisiana hasn't yet figured out how we're going to survive. But how it warms our hearts, Tony, to know that you're going to be OK.