Community morale takes a beating at the pump

With gas costs escalating closer and closer to the $4 a gallon mark, the effects are felt that much more.
And it’s not just in the cost of groceries and directly at the pump where we’re feeling the pinch, anymore. When the network of local economy starts to fold, the human spirit takes a beating.

Has anyone noticed the general frustration, helplessness and sense of exhaustion present in the overall community morale?

Every time I stop to put fuel in my vehicle I hear it in the voices of those at the pumps, wondering how much they can budget to get to work the next day and still buy groceries.

I hear it, when those around me start cancelling their vacation plans for the year because “gas is just too expensive.”

I see it on the faces of the elderly who never dreamed 10 years ago that they’d have to scrape to get by and to do the things they’ve earned the right to do once retired.

Or the ones that have to fight just to live at all on the fixed income oil companies are doing their best to obliterate.

I’m tired, and I think it’s safe to say that I’m not alone in the matter.

Three weeks ago, I put out the challenge of silent protest in abstaining from buying gasoline, knowing the idea was far-fetched and idealist, at best. We’re a society forever on the move, the effort and organization for such a campaign would truthfully, only hurt ourselves and likely be ineffective against companies that know they have us by the scruff of the neck.

However, we’re not as helpless as they’d like to think, nor as they’ve made us feel. Not while there are local businesses willing to step up.

What we need is simple: A good old-fashioned gas war.

I am throwing down the gauntlet of challenge, and waiting, as are all of us, for someone to accept.
If you start slashing the price of your fuel, people will come. Period. What you lose in profit, you gain in goods sold and sheer volume of traffic.

And even more so in the spirit of the community at large. When was the last good gas war we’ve had, anyway? 1997? And does anyone else remember the turnout? I certainly do.

It’s a whole lot like watching a professional game of tennis ... only believe me, people will be much more interested and involved.

Each week in the Tribune-Courier, we will be conducting a comprehensive study on gas prices across the county in an effort to help contribute to the cause. I encourage all of the local station owners to contribute now, in your own way.