Driving is a Luxury.

****This post contains content that may be objectionable by some readers. There are no offensive words or adult situations, however, the rose-coloured glasses are off on this particular post.****

We've had over thirty years to realize we've had an energy problem. Mankind took cheap energy for granted and it is now time to pay for our wasteful ways. Oil, water, food: Meet the new idols of civilization. For anyone keeping track, society is about to invert Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Just when you thought we'd reached the pinnacle of Self Actualization as indicated as the pinnacle of the hierarchy triangle, we find that the base is crumbling from years of neglect and we are now scrambling to mend the cracks in the dam. How quickly the triangle inverts itself is up to each and every one of us now. Unfortunately, a side effect of Self-Actualization may actually be some kind of new-found selfishness.

In a world where you can have everything your way, 24 hours a day, it sure makes it difficult to put up with simple challenges to your desires when they can be fulfilled so quickly. In a world where there are drive-through divorces, internet relationship services with scores of "alternate product" to select from. What's to keep anyone from committing to anything? Nothing. I saw one of those church signs today, you know, one of those billboards to let you know when Easter sunday services are or the Christmas pageant. It said, "Love is more than a feeling, it's a commitment." I wonder how many people say they love someone, but it stops at just that. When it's put to the test, love fails without a true commitment.

No corrupt government or president or business leader can hope to control the masses when the basics of human survival are at stake. We're about to stumble out of our hibernation fed by fast food, cocooned by our home theaters, television and the internet into a world we'd only seen in the apocalyptic 1080p imagery of hollywood. We'll scratch our heads in surprise as we look into the eyes of our neighbors who we meet for the first time when the plug is pulled on the cable, the power on our computers and when the pizza man no longer shows up at the door. We've been so intent on bringing the reality of the outside world into our homes via high definition larger-than-life plasma screens, that our knowledge of the outside world has shrunk to the size of a postage stamp.

Learn a forgotten talent or trade go meet a neighbor, plant a garden, or read a book about times long past because those who ignore history are the ones who do not last and are the ones in denial of the old adage that everything that goes up must come down. Everything.