to bend like the reed in the wind

Four bucks a gallon?  What is this, Europe?

What can we do about it?  Nothing.  Just ride it out and get more credit cards for gas and food.  We eat and drive too much as it is.  Maybe if we walk more and eat less our collective obesity and depression rates will drop and we can save even more money by not needing all those antidepressants to keep us artificially happy.  We might even start walking to farmers markets for locally grown produce and learn to cook instead of nuking processed, corn-fed, chemical laden crap in the microwave.

Don't expect Washington to do anything about this.  Don't plead with the oil companies.  Don't go for the belief that Canadian oil in the pipelines will lower the cost of fuel.  Not all of the oil companies get their oil from the Saudis but they all hike their prices at the same rate, at the same time.  It's a double edge sword of greed and control that's slicing us to pieces and the guys in control won't give up any of it unless they're told to do so.  The federal government, greedy bastards that they are, are already addicted to the higher taxes from fuel and food and they see this as a sure way to constantly milk the unwashed masses more each day because we have no choice.  We have to drive.  We have to eat.

I see all this as the last gasp of a dieing economic system, holding hostage the things we're lead to believe are necessary for our survival, with not enough to go around as the rationale we're all brainwashed to accept.
It goes like this... Last December gas hit $3 a gallon and we were grateful it wasn't $4.  Four months later gas hit $4 a gallon and we still fill our tanks because it's not $5 yet.  We pay two dollars for a 16oz bottle of water that makes the price of gas look like a bargain, so we go to Walmart and buy shit made in China, that we don't need, because we don't go anywhere but home and work.  That is, if you still have a job.   Just wait til they have the same control over water.

I say fuck it.  Let the prices go to twenty bucks a gallon.  It'll only bring the system to a screeching halt when a one way ticket from New York to Detroit costs $15,000 because you'll be the only one on the plane.  Grocery stores will go under if California iceberg lettuce costs $10 a head, unless they sell only locally grown food.  Walmart will be forced to cut China loose or file chapter 11.
Me?  I'll ride my donkey to the farmer's market and get my produce with tax-free cash or barter, at cost.

We should learn to emulate Winnie-the-Pooh... to focus on simply being, rather than worry about doing. It is better to bend like a reed with the currents of life, accepting and flowing with life's vicissitudes. A staunch tree that tries to stand up to the currents will break when faced with a sufficiently strong gust of wind. 


"To bend like the reed in the wind, that is the real strength" -- Taoist proverb