Gas prices have officially dropped to an average of $1.75 a gallon. This is a record low since March of 2004. The decreased demand for gasoline has caused the prices to go down significantly. It seems that the hard working taxpayers are catching a bit of a break. People have been making the effort to cut costs on certain luxuries in order to secure the necessities. Based on the current price of gasoline, I would say that many people are doing their part.
Both R.W Emerson and H.D Thoreau detailed the concepts of materialism, and how the stuff you own can own you. They thought that life is not about who has the fanciest car, house, etc. I feel that many people are starting to pick up these ideas because of the current economic situation. Driving as a means of transportation to work, the grocery store, and other activities is a necessity, but a lot of it is rather pointless. I have witnessed this first hand. I cannot tell you how many times my friends and I have spent great amounts of time just driving around, listening to music, in our gas guzzling suv's. Even though we live in a very prosperous area, this trend has changed, and as a direct effect of the economic situation. Parents are no longer paying for their children to drive their cars any longer. Because of this, teenagers are simply not driving as much. From the lower ends of society, all the way up to the higher, people are making changes to compensate for our delicate economy. As a direct effect of the taxpayers efforts, gasoline is now more affordable than in the last 5 years. Emerson and Thoreau would be proud of this change, and perhaps amazed in the national effort to make the change.
1 comment:
The fragile economy definitely has made us as a nation reevaluate what is important, because we simply cannot afford the luxuries. Although we have come more in line with Emerson's points of view on simplicity, the only reason we are starting to realize this is because we have no other choice. As a nation it is nice to see that we are not complicating our lives with so much materialism and that we are focusing on the basics; it's too bad that this sudden change in mind only comes from lack of money as opposed to us actually wanting to simplify our hectic lives. Although this could be the only way in our materialistic world for us to come back to basic needs, none the less the change in simplifying is a good change because many times our minds and lives are cluttered with superficial disturbances.
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