Today was the day we saw the first tar balls from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The Florida coast has thus far been spared the worst, but there's something really disturbing about seeing a scattering of brown tar on the white sugar sands.

To think of how very far away the Deepwater Horizon well is from northwestern Florida -- how far the oil and tar had to travel to make it to our beach -- brings home the enormous amount of oil spilled and the impact the disaster will likely have for all parts of the Gulf for years (or decades) to come.