by Deborah Michelle Jordan

Created on: August 26, 2008   Last Updated: September 01, 2008

The high price of gasoline is a popular topic around the water-cooler. Or rather an unpopular topic that everyone wants to talk about.

It's unbelievable. You can fill up the car at the gas station, walk inside to pay for your gas and by the time you've pulled out of the parking lot, you're down a quarter of a tank. That's what it feels like, because the high prices are making it seem like we are getting less miles to the gallon.

We can't control the price of gasoline - we're at the mercy of the market, foreign policy and big-time industry. While there is some flexibility, where we drive is pretty much set on a monthly basis - we go to work, we go to the store, we go to grandma's house.

The only thing left to control, is what we drive and/or how we travel. All of a sudden the luxury sedan, SUV or sports car - the four-wheel drive, V-8 engine, and heavy weight, don't sound so great anymore. The effective cost of All vehicles, big and small, is now higher.

Gasoline is like gold and land - the price will continue to rise. The difference between gold/land, and gasoline is, the average person can buy gold or land, hold onto it and sell it later for a profit. Do you have the means to store gasoline in the back yard? How about oil? Another difference is, you have choices when buying land or gold - we don't have any options with gasoline! We need it, they've got it. They sell it, we buy it. Period. They've got the investment to beat all investments. Hello? So do you think the price of gasoline will go down? No way.

Sure, it feels better to talk about it - to know that others feel your pain. But there's no point in crying. The only way to fight back (and its not really even fighting back, it more like acting in your own interest), is to change the way we travel.

Before, you may have thought that a big fancy car or SUV was a status symbol - a symbol of success perhaps? Now, we know these vehicles might as well have the words "stupid" painted on their hoods.

Here's the deal. If you've got the bucks, buy a vehicle that runs on alternative fuel. If you don't have the money, trade yours in your old ride for one that gets good gas mileage. If you can't buy another vehicle, split the difference, and find other ways to travel sometimes! When possible, take the bus or the train or the trolley or public transportation - it's "in" and it's smart.

My grandfather always said, "protect yourself when somebody's hitting you in the face". My grandmother always said, "have enough sense to know when to walk away". The universe is telling us to do something different - are we too hardheaded or will we listen?

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