Do Your Part

Our local DMV recently moved from a convenient downtown location to much further away, close to the prison area. A friend of mine talked about wanting to carpool to the DMV because fuel prices are so high. Carpooling makes sense. And she won't be riding with Hitler.

I don't know what it was like to live in this country in the 1940's when propaganda was rampant; I don't know if the
people entirely believed and acted on the calls for support and conservation. Did they request their change from the grocery store in war bonds? Did they all plant victory gardens? How extensively was car-sharing implemented?

Whatever the social agreement was, it is certainly different now. We are a nation of cynics and skeptics, but we're complacent, too. Even now, when the cost of oil is legitimately high (though financially painful), what are we doing about it? Rather than band together and work through it, how are we coping with it? We are grumbling and paying for it without making any changes. It's business as usual in America.

That may not be completely accurate. The expense has forced some adjustment in most cases.

But guidance and support from the government? Nope. You can like it or you can lump it.

Car-sharing clubs? None. We're all on our own.

Many who have made significant changes in their lives because of the unbelievable cost of fuel. I know several people who will not drive unless they absolutely must, who have changed their frequented grocery stores to ones with closer locations, cut back on their food budgets, and some who have started walking to places where they would normally drive.

With that in mind, it's time to start planning my next vacation...


For never having experienced 2008 before, it sure looks familiar.