From among the weeds

If you've been keeping up with the news lately, or have left that remote cave even once in the last three years, then you know the US economy is experiencing a bit of a...dip.  Let's put it mildly.

If you've even glanced at any major internet site with ads of the news, or newspages themselves, you know this weekend marked the highest jump in oil costs in history.  Wow, people.  This is..huge.  Alarming?  Yes.  Bad?  I don't know.

I was reading this article on CNN news "Gas Price Record Reaches 4 Dollars a Gallon"

and as I read the article, I actually felt a Faint Smile form on my lips.  Let's be clear.  I'm not a misanthrope.  I don't hate humanity.  I'm not a billionaire.  This does affect me.  I'm not a hippie.  I believe in driving.  And, of course, I have absolutely no affiliation with the oil industry.  

But sentences such as this one provoked the Faint Smile:

Higher gas prices have prompted a growing number of Americans to modify their driving habits.  A recent study by the Department of Transportation showed that the number of drivers on the road in March fell 4.3% versus the previous year.  That was the first time March travel on public roads fell in nearly 30 years.

In addition to driving less, many consumers are shifting away from large, low mileage vehicles that consume less gas.

The article goes on to explain things like how the Airline Industries' crises are only worsening (that part did not induce any smiling on my part) and the measures they are taking to combat highers costs-- aka, charging for EVERYTHING, and laying people off.

But, it ended with links to all the best-selling compact cars whose sales have, in some cases, more than tripled this year.

Why are we like this?  Why are we such a crash-and-burn society?  Why does it take selfish interests to get us to modify our habits.  For years we've been learning about fuel emmissions' atrocious, disastrous, horrifying effects on our environment.  And did SUV sales plunge? No.

Did people switch from A/C to fans?  No.

Did more families start car pooling? No.

Did the government invest significant time, energy, brain power and money into improving our public transportation systems? No.

But now that oil prices are sky-rocketing and the pain is felt in our pocket, we modify.  Some of the above-mentioned things haven't really happened yet, but they will.  I believe they will. Maybe we still have a little more crashing and burning to do, unfortunately, until we're ready to pick ourselves up and walk away from the wreckage that is our crass consumerism, and complete and total disregard for our environment.

But, we will.  Eventually, we'll get there.  It might be on the long, steep, windy, narrow, bumpy road.  But we'll get there.

From among the financial crises, a society grows.

From the pain of economic loss, a people learn.

From among the weeds, a flower blossoms.