My thoughts on life, relationships, and everything else!

Thursday, August 25, 2005

$35 for a tank of gas, enjoy it! also why we shouldn't ask tsunami victims for aid.

***WARNING*** Yet another Blog post that might really tick some people off. The only thing I can tell ya is if it makes you mad, comment about it. It will make you feel either better or worse.

I know I am not alone in this situation, and feel incredibly lucky I drive a Bravada instead of a Tahoe (although my smaller SUV is still more costly than, say, a smart car). I can remember, when I first bought it two years ago, thinking how hard it was going to be to adjust to the $20 or $25 to fill the tank twice as often....now i wish it was just $20. With the prices growing daily, I have became so desparate, I actually at one point considered riding a bicycle everywhere. I probably would have went with the idea if I didnt have to fight traffic so much. The really sad part about this whole thing Is that here in a week or two , $35 will probably sound pretty good compared to the $60 i will be paying, and with hurricane Katrina...The gas is expected to get even more expensive. Speaking of Katrina...some peoples insights on it are quite a bit off kilter.

After reading alot of sites where americans can leave their thoughts and commments on the disaster, i was apalled and disgusted at what i had found. Quite a few people felt like the victims of the tsunami in southeast Asia Should be giving us financial aid. THEY ARE A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY!!! plus, there is the drama witht he peolple who didn't evacuate. My friend Jake made great point the other day when we were talking . " We definitly live in the greatest country on earth! How great is it that we can handle a war, and something like this!" I don't think that was what he said word for word, but pretty much. It's true! We really do live in a great country, we can handle more than any other, and when we need to, we pullo together instead of splitting apart. He also had a really good blog post on it, and since he lives in louisiana i figure he would know more about these things than i do. Yes, there were some people who genuinely could not evacuate, like the ill and some of the elderly who were unable to travel, and yes, maybe even a few of the poor, but not all of them. My Aunt came by last night and we were talking about the number of poor left behind and she brought up something. There were people willing to take many of them out of the area. There were evacuation shuttles and private citizens willing to help as early as 36 hours before this happened, but some of these people refused to go. The ones I feel the worst for in all of this is the children, elderly, and ill. These are people who have no choice to do what they are told or assisted with, and if that means waiting to die, thats all they can do. Yes ! We need to help them. Yes! this was a great disaster. But I think some of the things going on are uncalled for. New Orleans wasn't the only place wiped out by Katrina, and a few people need to realize that. Not necessarily refugees in general, bacause i would be distraught in that situation if it was me, but some people act like it was the only place affected. These people need help, alot of it, and we need to pull together as a country and fight this.