Watching CNN this morning and there is a story about how people in south Florida are having a hard time getting gas for their cars. With electricity still out in a lot of places the pumps won't work. So in the story they go to a gas station that has power and there is a half-mile long line going down the street waiting to get fuel. Now this is understandable, a hurricane just swept through and all, and it can take a while to get power back up and running. Plus, you know, they need to kind of prioritize. Hospitals I would imagine would be toward the front of that list, way ahead of getting power back on at the local Stop & Go. But that's not good enough for some of the people in line at the gas station, as we found out when CNN interviewed some of those in line.
Here's one that really stuck out when I saw it right before leaving this morning. A woman, a twentysomething girl really, in the line was sitting in her car and they show her saying that the situation is just terrible and that it's like living in a "Third World country". Yes, she compared her life to living in a Third World country. And she said this while sitting in a car that appeared less than 3-4 years old, with a mouth full of thousands of dollars worth of orthodonture, a Starbucks cup sitting in the cup holder, and she was holding a cell phone to her ear. I'm not making this shit up. And I'm willing to bet she had an iPod in there too. Let me say it again: She said it was like a Third World country.
I'd like to say this to the young lady. Listen, you stupid bimbo, do you know what in America is like a third world country? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!
You were in line to get gasoline, not clean water or a small bag of rice. You were chatting with your friends while waiting, not trying to comfort your AIDS infected baby or throwing up from cholera.
You were in line to buy gas somewhere you could also grab a Diet Coke. It was not a line to sign up for open spaces in the refugee camp. It also wasn't a line to see if one of the bodies in the recently discovered mass grave was your husband or father.
The Americans of my generation ("X") and later (whatever stupid name they've given that one) are in serious need of a wake-up call. Another Great Depression might do us a some good. A little perspective is just what the doctor ordered. I don't know how our grandparents can stand to be around us.
The people in the Third World would love to have our damn problems. Think about that the next time your DSL connection goes down for three minutes or when there's not enough chocolate in your Frappuccino.
Six
1 week ago
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3 comments:
Yeah!
"I don't know how our grandparents can stand to be around us."
LMAO, I love that line!
Suffice to say, there's an awful lot of young people who are very aware of the privledges they have had, but you're right...the progeny of me-me-me 80's parents, who had TVs and phone lines in their rooms at age 10 and cell phones not long after that, are often callous, indifferent, selfish, and unseeing. I count some members of my own family in that number, cousins who make me shake my head in disbelief for their spoiled-brat attitudes.
Doesn't help that our education system is being worn down to the nubbins, either.
The first thing that occurred to me when I saw the lines at those gas stations was that many of them could walk to their destinations faster than it would take them to fuel up their car and drive.
The second thing was a smug satisfaction from knowing that I fill up my new Hybrid less than once a month (and that's with having two drivers and only one car). ;)
Granted, part of the reason that I fill up so infrequently is that I do walk to places that are within 1-2 miles from home. (15-30 minute walks, which in Charlottesville can be quite pleasant - as long as the undergrads are still asleep or in classes.)
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