so, i’m awake on a sunday morning because my neighbors and their roofers don’t believe in sleeping in. isn’t there some kind of city ordinance about when construction work is allowed to be done? i vaguely remember that sunday is supposed to be off-limits. whatever.

so, i’m awake and going over our finances, because i’m obsessed with it. and looking over our line-item spending, i notice that in the month of june, we paid $172.55 on petrol. i’m quite grateful that during the summer of speculation it was as low as it was. i attribute that to us owning only one relatively fuel efficient car, having a relatively short commute, and using public transportation. between then and now, our commuting pattern has not changed, but for the month of november, we paid $73.05 in petrol. while my pocketbook is ecstatic, i’m not sure i am.

see, generally, most people don’t do the right thing because it’s the right thing (notice that i qualified that with “generally” and “most”. yes, i know that there are exceptions to the rule). also, a lot of people will do things because it’s trendy (someone please explain disco and the 80s to me). right now, being ecologically sound is very trendy. people are going to the grocery with their own shopping bags (i own more than i can count), switching to those ugly coiled light bulbs that take forever to get bright, and the US government is forcing the Big 3 to consider fuel economy. even our president-elect own a hybrid, and the vpotus-elect took the train! so, with all that said, i will repeat, generally, most people don’t do the right thing just because it’s the right thing.

when gasoline was expensive, the mta ridership skyrocketed. people were deeply troubled by their gigantic cars, and people walked, rode their bikes, carpooled more. it truly was a beautiful thing. it looked like legions of americans banding together to do what was right for their environment, and for a moment, it looked as if we were thinking globally by acting locally. but not. it wasn’t that we were doing the right thing. we were doing the right thing because we simply could not afford over $4 for a gallon of gas. milk was cheaper. now that gasoline is down to clinton-era prices (wtf?!), metro ridership is down again, there are people who are feeling comfortable again with their ugly suvs, and my family has $100 extra dollars in our pocket.

i know i’m going to get more than my ration of shit for this, but i really don’t think the $100 my family saves is an even payoff. i’d trade the money for a gallon of $4 gasoline.