As far back as I can remember, flying was great. It was one of the most exciting treats that I got as a kid. You drove to the airport, grabbed your tickets and walked up to the gate, onto the plane, into your seats, on your way; Soaring above the country, scanning the horizons. Flying used to be great.
Today, fliers experience unjustifiable fees on pretty much everything from aisle seats, to extra bags of peanuts. Security is excessive, and not a single person enjoys it anymore. What happened to the days of meals, service, friendliness, luxury. What happened to the enjoyment of flying. Ill tell you. Money.
Money literally does make the world go round. It also makes a lot of peoples lives less enjoyable. The rich get richer and the middle class gets pissed. The rich stuff their pockets at our expense, taking things that we all used to enjoy, like flying, and turning them into an overly profitable cattle drive. Sadly, the white collared bureaucrats have destroyed an American way. The days of packing the bags and heading to the airport for an exciting adventure are gone.
Where do we go from here? Whats the better (not good) news? The automobile is coming back. Families are jumping into their cars and heading down the highways, its a small throwback to tradition, Americans and automobiles. Its so simple, but its what we do here. We love cars, we buy them, we drive them, we get more, we collect them, we relish them, treat them well, beat them up, ride them hard, worship them, curse them.
The line seems to stop there. But it doesn't. Current events are certainly threatening our most beloved form of transportation.
Gas.
It literally fuels us, and it now costs $4 a gallon.
What do we do? Where do we go from here? Do we bite the bullet? Do we park the cars and walk? Nobody has a definitive answer, and nobody WILL have a definitive answer. We have traditionally done what we want to do, nobody has ever dictated us as Americans about what to do. Ask the English.
So really, what do we do? I don't have the perfect answer. But I do have an opinion, we forget about it. We don't let it phase us, we keep going like nothing is happening, we continue to better our lives and say "forget about it" to all the troubling things in life. Take a philosophical lesson from Jeff Bridges' character, "The Dude" from the Coen brothers film "The Big Lebowski". "The Dude. Takin' er easy for all us sinners."
Just take it easy, ride it out. Most everything sorts itself out in the end.
-tod
