One of the best things that could happen to our earth and all life on it.

The soaring cost of fuel is putting many people in quite a pinch financially. Depending on where you are on the economic food chain determines how much you are hurting right now. There are some who are not feeling it yet, others who are starting to be a little uncomfortable and then there are those who are suffering unimaginably because the little income they have goes completely for food and when it costs more to ship that food the cost goes up and they end up starving.
I have seen and heard people make suggestions on how to stick it to “Big Oil”. Some have suggested not buying any gas or only purchase gas from the smaller companies. Truckers have protested by driving 55 miles an hour on the highway (not sure why that would be a bad thing) and it goes on and on.

Personally, I have kicked around the idea that as many people as possible should disconnect their cable and internet services on the same day and refuse to purchase music, DVD’s or go to a movie until gas becomes affordable again. It is clear that the “American People” really have no voice for the most part especially in government. If everyone united to give up the things we use to stick our heads in to escape reality than those industries would certainly want to send their powerful lobbyists to talk to our elected officials about gas prices. If you pinch one big industry they will start knocking on oil’s door.

Certainly there is a big part of me that wants to fight the power and look for ways to start a revolution. However, today I spent a lot of time outside thinking about our environment and the state of our world. It dawned on me that this is really the best thing that could happen to us. For years we have consumed and consumed at the expense of the poor, the environment and all living things and now we are reaping the karmic fruits of our actions. Now that fuel prices are so high we want to blame the big oil companies when most of the fault lies with us. They have simply been our pusher and when there is more demand and dwindling supply the price has to go up.

I think that the looming financial and energy crisis is really the only way we are going to be able to save our planet and ourselves if indeed there is time. We have to see clearly what our reckless disregard for the environment which has been all in the name of prosperity has led to. We are headed for a situation where we may have to reset to a pre industrial revolution existence in order to survive.

This time it’s not a meteor or an ice age that will wipe out life, it’s us. We are going to be responsible for the mass extinction of millions of life forms all because we wanted luxury and comfort and the crazy thing is less than 1% of the human race is actually happy! What a shame! We are never satisfied and once we get high off of materialism we move to the next big thing to keep the high going, essentially never finding satisfaction. Perhaps the looming crisis will spawn a new consciousness that is more in tune with the pulse of life and the cosmos. Perhaps we will get to a point where machines and technology, governments and differences between cultures, races and gender will finally be irrelevant.

As for me I am not going to complain about the cost of gas any longer. The more the prices go up the more I become aware of my consumption and really start seeing how much I could do without. I don’t have to sit in the drive thru at Dairy Queen burning gas like it‘s 99 cents a gallon, I can take my lazy ass inside instead. When I get ready to buy a new car I can buy a Hybrid or walk more or take the train. The higher gas gets the more I fall out of love with the automobile and the more I want to do my part to create a cleaner and better world for my children and my friend’s children. The more things start to fall apart the more I want to do better, not just for me but for everybody and everything.

Something had to happen to get our attention and perhaps hitting us in the wallet may be what gets our attention. Hopefully such a shallow repentance will lead to sincere reform and genuine love for the planet and all that call it home.

May you be well, happy and peaceful!