Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last couple of years or your last name is Krohm and you’ve been driving a bicycle exclusively, you’ve felt the “pain at the pump” as the news would like to call it. I think everyone can agree that it sucks, but I’m going to argue that it’s actually a good thing and here’s why: it’s forcing efficiency.
Think about it. Without getting all hippy on everybody, we are a wasteful society(and no I’m nowhere close to being some liberal that’s more concerned about what probably is NOT causing global warming than about every day life). Although it’s quite a nice luxury to be a waste producing society as opposed to a waste using society, let’s face it, everyone can look at their life and find quite a few things that are unnecessary and if eliminated would actually better their life. For me cable tv and stealing my neighbors internet takes way too much of my time…….but we’re not here to talk about me, we’re talking about everybody……right?
People always want the government to do something for them. Gas prices are too high so people want the government to stop those evil, greedy oil companies from making so much money. But just like the bum that’s been on the same street corner for 20 years, it doesn’t matter if we like them or not or agree with what they’re doing, nothing’s going to cause them to change as long as people willingly give them their money and keep them supported. For people who think all the oil executives should be sent to jail, the last I checked selling a product or service at a price that the market will support is not illegal, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make today.
Two paragraphs down and I still haven’t broken down efficiency, sorry about that. Think about what rising gas prices are causing: increased research on new energy technologies which will be safer, cleaner, and most importantly HOME GROWN. The sooner our country is self-sufficient on energy, the safer and (hopefully) more responsible our country will be. Although I don’t think that the “everybody hates America” view that the news pumps out all the time is probably near as accurate as it really is, I would venture to say that most of our foreign relations that are bad would not be so if countries didn’t have something that we HAD to have.
But lets no focus on “the world” here. Let’s talk about you and me. $4 dollar gas makes all of us do something that would probably help us out if we did it with everything else: think before we act. Before you hop in your car you have to decide: how much is this trip going to cost me? is it going to be worth it? is my money/time better spent doing something else? I would venture to guess that most people have been cutting down on random trips to the store and are now combining errands into one trip. Think about it, what if we asked ourselves these questions before everything. Would we still be watching 2987234 hours of news, hollywood buzz, and reality tv? Would we still be eating way too much fast food? Would we still be at the same dead end job when we know we were created to do something else? Would we still be going out every night trying to impress strangers as opposed to spending quality time with real friends and family?
The thing that I love about this whole situation is that efficiency is being forced on us by the free market, not the government. Those who always want the government to do everything for us *caugh* liberals, democrats, etc. *caugh* need to take note. When the government forces things on us that’s when we have problems, when it infringes on our personal freedoms that makes the USA the BEST country in the world (and we DO have the best country in the world). Because this is being caused by the free market and not the government the beauty of the whole situation is that we don’t have to do it. That’s right. If you want to buy a sports car or an SUV that get’s terrible gas mileage go right ahead and enjoy yourself. We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. While most of us (including myself) will be looking to buy hybrids or more fuel efficient cars, if you’ve got the money (and hopefully $4 gas will be motivating people to get out there and make more money) or it’s just in your priorities you can still drive whatever you want, whenever you want, for however long you want.
Because this is being caused by the free market, you have a choice and a direct impact on the price of gas. Gas companies can raise the price all they want, but if no one buys it they make no profit. When that happens they will slowly lower the price until enough people start buying it again for them to sustain their company. If the bum on the streets starts telling people he only accepts $20’s, it won’t be long before he’s starving and is gladly accepting quarters from anyone who will give them up. I believe the famous quote from Ghandi is “You must be the change you want to see”. If getting gas prices back down is something you’re passionate about, stop complaining and take personal responsibility (that means stop using so much gasoline, for those that were starting to make their protest signs for the government).
Anyways, I’ve got more thoughts on this subject, but the most important thing I want to get across is to question yourself about your life’s efficiency. Challenge yourself, heck challenge everything and if it’s not worth your time or improving your life or someone’s you care about then do something else.
**Author’s note: Staring June 4 I will have no more cable tv. There’s nothing on that is benefiting my life except for basketball (it’s been scientifically proven that hoops cures aids, stops wars, and feeds the poor………ok ok I just can’t help it, is there anything better than basketball?) and that will be over soon. Plus if I see another sportscenter that is all baseball highlights my tv may or may not get a brick sent through its screen. Seriously people, why does baseball even exist?
