It’s been about two weeks since a freak accident in Snohomish County ruined what was once a pristine beach here in North Kitsap. When the 4,800 gallons of oil first spilled into the Puget Sound, not a whole lot of locals thought it would become their problem.

But it did.

In a big way.

While clean up efforts have made huge strides at the Indianola site and beyond, the damage goes well beyond environmental parameters. In this case, and others that have preceded it and will certainly follow, more than a beach, estuary, water and wildlife have been marred.

So has public trust. Such incidents, thankfully, are very rare. But they do happen. There is no ironclad guarantee anyone can offer to assure they don’t.

Accidents happen, as the cliche goes. If they were planned or foreseen, well, they wouldn’t really be accidents now would they? The fact that the Snohomish incident comes so closely on the heels of an enormous sewage spill in Liberty and Ne-Si-Ka bays should be a real wake up call for North Kitsap residents.

We’re not invincible to catastrophes and the environment we hold in such high esteem is as fragile and vulnerable as a newborn baby. Our baby, right now, has some pretty dirty diapers but very few among us are pushing for a change.

The environment is our responsibility. We must take action to ensure that it gets cleaned up and stays that way to the best of our ability.

As 2004 gets under way, all of us should resolve to get our hands dirty with the aim of keeping everything else clean.