Forgiveness is overrated

I was reading an article over at The Huffington Post and came across this quote that made me stop and think a second.

“BP’s U.S. operations will need to be sold, spun off or the name will need to be changed because the brand doesn't look salvageable in this country,” Marshall Goldsmith said.

I mean, he’s a CEO consultant and he writes about leadership, so maybe the guy knows what he’s talking about, but really?

What happened to forgive and forget? Forgiveness is a pretty big deal.

People mess up, it happens. It will always happen. We’re not perfect. So why will the U.S. never forgive BP? Since when are we a nation of environmentally friendly people? Most everyone in this country does their part to destroy the Earth, so why are we acting so high and mighty about this situation?

Yes, the company caused the biggest oil spill in American history, but they didn’t set out to do so. It wasn’t a terrorist attack on our nation. If they had set out to sabotage our gulf coast, okay yeah, screw them. But they didn’t.

They should pay damages, and they are. They should help people out whose lives it affected, and they will. Hell, they should probably be fined out the ass, it’s not like they won’t make the money back in a year anyways.

We forgave Exxon after the Prince William Sound fiasco, so why not BP?

Sure, BP didn’t handle it well, but I’m fairly certain they know that now. They should have said to hell with the cap they were trying to install and just shut it down, but they didn’t, which might be why we won’t forgive them – but if they try to make it right, shouldn’t we at least give them a chance?

The only option they have is to sell off, change names or discontinue the American branch? Surely those aren’t BP’s only options.

Then again maybe they are the only options. The Union Carbide catastrophe from the 80’s proved that sometimes it’s all you can do to get out of the situation alive. Sell off your assets and start again, with a fresh image and a clean slate.