And when doing these sorts of look backs it is always so very tempting to pick something that has just happened for it burns more brightly in the memory.
"The Gulf of Mexico explosion was a terrible tragedy for which--as the man in charge of BP when it happened--I will always feel a deep responsibility, regardless of where blame is ultimately found to lie, " Hayward said.
"After Katrina a lot of people felt the recovery could have happened in a matter of months but in reality it was always going to be a five-year work in progress and that's what a lot of people did not understand, " Lee told CNN.