Thursday, October 16, 2008

One Step Forward. Two Steps Back?

I still have very fresh memory of the deafening ring in my ears the day my wallet yelled out of pain. It was the first time I pumped petrol after the fuel price had gone up by 78 cents per liter. Ever since, I’ve been thinking of ways and means to extract extra value from my fuel money, and cutting unnecessary expenses. And my right foot has been “molesting” less of my car’s accelerator and brake. I was this close to getting a bicycle as my mode of transport too.

During all the painful cost cutting and saving exercises, I thought there was one who’s smiling cheekily at all these self-inflicted suffering – Mother Nature. The consequential reduction of carbonic gases on the roads would probably give our children a longer while to enjoy Mother Nature in the future (not sure about the gas from the cow shit, though - hey, did you know I have a post on that subject and why I wrote that post). It’s one step pushed forward in the effort of preserving our environment.

Recently, I have to keep reminding my singing-happy wallet (if you listen carefully, you can hear “Happy Days” sung by my wallet at the background :-) ) that the recent price drops in petrol have not fully offset the initial increment. And we are no way closer to the good old days, as prices of other essential items that had gone up are not likely to come down.

Although, the manner in which the petrol price tumbled from its peak in recent times did give a false sense that the “happy days” are back. I found myself subconsciously care less about how I use my car, unlike my previous calculated-to-death planning before trips. Much like how a newly freed prisoner would inhale a few extra breathes of air of freedom, this lost-and-found extra money in the pocket might have led me to feed a few extra drops of avoidable fuel into my car.

Amid our sigh of relief, I can probably hear the sigh of helplessness from Mother Nature. As this temporary relief received from the petrol price is likely to put more vehicles back on the road. It could be two steps back, after the one step gained.

But Mother Nature is not frowning yet, because we have befriended her with another one of our man-made mechanism. And it is giving her a hand on her desire to let our children enjoy her company longer – the “Financial Crisis”.


ps. Ever notice how the less we consume, the more time our children get to spend with Mother Nature in the future?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes in the natural course of events as we ride along this planet, we will come across something so... well... so... so utterly wrong that it makes us question the basic fundamental truths this life of us has been built upon.

Unknown said...

We definately need to continue cutting back on our driving tendencies and save as much fuel as possible, even though the gas prices have been dropping.
great blog!

LuAnn @ BackPorchervations said...

There's a lot more car-pooling going on at my work these days.

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