Sticker Shock At The Pumps

I am counting my blessings.  The last time I put gasoline in my car it was $2.87 per gallon.  No, I did not stop driving years ago.  This was just three short weeks ago.  Working from home has given me an advantage.  I am no longer driving 52 miles roundtrip daily. I do not sit in traffic on a two lane highway for one and one half hours to complete what should be a twenty minute drive. The supermarket is approximately one mile away from me, and I consolidate my trips to the store.  While I am out, I get everything I need. 

 My knock-about 2002 VW Jetta with the four cylinder engine is a goddess right now.  I am horrified as SUV addicts pull into the convenience store and rack up charges of $90.00 or better.  To make matters worse, seeing $4.00 per gallon on a gas pump is worse than the “sticker shock” of a new vehicle.  When I began driving in 1978, gasoline was 52 cents per gallon. Any sensible person would be trading in that SUV for a small, fuel efficient vehicle more quickly than they could butter a slice of bread.  A friend of mine made this sensible decision three months ago.  In addition to saving money on her fill-ups, she is saving $200.00 monthly on her car payment.  Smart cookie!

Perhaps most interesting are the reasons I’ve heard as to why normally reasonable people are fuelish and continue to drive these trucks and SUVs.

“Well everyone one else is driving them and if you drive a car you don’t stand a chance in an accident” tops the list.  If everyone got smart and traded the gargantuan gas guzzlers in for a more efficient vehicle, we could disqualify that argument in a heartbeat.  The most fascinating aspect of this group is that these are the “green” citizens that demand we only use one piece of toilet paper and blame cows for all evils of the world.

“I really need it” is second in line.  Why in heaven’s name does an n unmarried young adult with no children “need” an SUV?  Granted there are some people out there with five children who truly do need a larger vehicle but somehow, I can’t help recalling a trip we took through the New England States at the age of twelve.  There was no television or DVD player in the back of the car to keep us entertained. My two brothers and I spent 3 weeks sitting in the back of an Oldsmobile as my mother created games to entertain us and did her best to keep us from whining and fighting.  Somehow, I made it to adulthood in one piece.   I am not suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of not being able to play Nintendo in the car during the ten minute drive to the local supermarket.

As a whole, we can deal a devastating blow to those nations that believe they will be rich because Americans require bigger and better possessions to gain status in society.  We can scrap all the vehicles and go back to using horses and wagons. 

At the very least, it would take the spotlight off those evil cows for a while.

Private Issues In The Public Eye

Take cover e-mail addicts, here they come.  Your inbox is about to be besieged by horridly tasteless cartoons depicting the disgraceful fall of New York Governor Mark Spitzer. 

Society’s obsession with scandal turns coverage of private events in public families into the most highly valued prize a reporter can secure.  Covering the story of a governor that was elected as a result of his ability to cure social ills who falls in disgrace is like holding a forty six carat diamond.  At times, I am certain that ice water runs through the veins of these sensationalistic vampires.

Currently, any of our neighbors may be involved in an extra-marital affair.  Men and women alike cheat on their spouses through the course of their marriages.  None of these people are subject to scrutiny by the press or general global population.   The offended spouses do not withstand the embarrassment amid cameras, screaming reporters and hot lights as their straying spouses step down from the public eye.  As cameras were trained on the face of Silda Spitzer during yesterday’s news conference they captured the devastation and heartbreak broadcasting it throughout the world. 

The children in an ordinary family will go on with lives, blissfully unaware of the turmoil between their parents.  Peers will pass in the hallway, and there will be no cruel whispers among those who seek popularity. Teachers and friends will not avert their eyes from these children, nor will they remain silent or gossip about how the affected parties are reacting to a very private tragedy.  The Spitzer children will endure all of these embarrassments and more.

I would like to see the members of the press return to a time where decorum and consideration were in style.  Rather than reporters speculating on what caused this tragedy, or on what Silda Spitzer or the children feel, report the story.  New York State Governor Mark Spitzer was caught in a prostitution scandal. New York State Governor Mark Spitzer resigned.  The event is over.  Why must the pain of this family be prolonged?

Undoubtedly, a “journalist” somewhere will remember this event. A where are they now story will be solicited at all costs, and as these people attempt to put their family back together, the pain will be revisited.

One can only hope that this time next year they are as far out of the public eye as they can possibly be.

“Great minds discuss ideas.  Mediocre minds discuss events.  Small minds discuss people”.    Eleanor Roosevelt

Tribute to a Lost Hero

Perhaps the death of William F. Buckley Jr. didn’t strike many twenty or thirty something members of today’s society as important.  In fact many probably called parents or older siblings and asked William F. Who?

In the “Me” generation, people like William F. Buckley are rare.  Those heros that stand their ground whether the opinion they hold is popular or not. 

Ex CIA Agent,  Politician, Writer, Editor and Entertainer Extrodinaire could all be used to describe this hero eloquently.  He was a true right-winger, and as any good republican would, he turned his hate mail into a gold mine by composing a book from it.

Foie de gras and peanut butter were served in the same grand style at each of his dinner parties, he adored criticizing political policy and welcomed a great sparring match over his criticisms.

His name became famous alongside Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy and Gerald Ford.  He was a workaholic, editing a magazine and still finding time to produce one book a year throughout the majority of his career.

In the midst of shifting views and the changes that occured during the sociological shifts of the sixties and seventies, Bill Buckley never waivered.  He never abandoned his conservative views. 

Gaining a following in “cult” proportions during the years his show Firing Line was popular, a weekly roast of the leftist-come-lately caused his popularity to soar.  There is nothing like heated and honest debate to strike a fire in the souls of Americans.  We tend to take up one side or the other.

As a child in the sixties, my knowledge of this man was limited, but I knew I heard his name on the news nearly every night.  In the 1970′s, the era of  Peace, Love & Rock &Roll, and though the transitions of the late 1970′s and early 80′s, I had little appreciation for the man. 

In the 1990′s when I became a parent, and a student again after a 20 year absence from school, William F. Buckley again struck a chord.  This time, I was not a child listening to a name on the news, but an adult, with children, and political views that had changed drastically.

Here in my forties, my bohemian spirit still exists to some extent, but my admiration for men such as William F. Buckley Jr. is a flame that will forever burn within me. 

I may not have always agreed with his opinions through the years, but I see his points quite clearly now.  I have long been a fan of the saying “Happiness lies not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do.”  William F. Buckley Jr. embraced that every day of his life.

I sincerely hope that as I continue my path, I can remain even half as steadfast in the things I believe in.  In my eyes, the ability to do so is one of the characteristics of a hero.