Between a Rock and a Hard Place

I'm the kind of person who has no trouble sleeping. Last night, I had trouble. That's because I'm also the kind of person who likes to feel like I am doing the things I can do within my control to protect my family and community, and there are a lot of things outside my control right now.

Sonny Perdue can call us all the names he wants, but the cold, hard facts are that our lives here in the Atlanta suburbs pretty much depend on car travel and Sonny, my friend, there's no gas, and if and when there suddenly is, it requires long waits to get it and no certainty about when we will get it again. I went eight days between fill-ups instead of my usual seven, Sonny (I've been tracking my gas on a weekly basis since the beginning of May). I conserved gas more than usual last week. I rode my bike to places where I usually drive, and I skipped both the Green Jobs presentation downtown and the Decatur Garden Tour this weekend, as I know many of you have as well have made some different decisions as a result of the gas situation. Forget initiating new business meetings, making doctor appointments, visiting ailing relatives, volunteering, or any other normal travels of a productive life. Although Sonny says there is no shortage and there is ample gas, why, then, does the AJC report this morning that this will go on for two more weeks? And do you believe we're even getting the full story?

As for the Chinese milk contamination situation, are you following this, folks? More than 50,000 babies are sick, four have died, and the situation has expanded to include the milk protein "casein," which is in tons of processed foods (which are not required to be labeled as including ingredients from China, by the way). We haven't heard the end of this yet, and it will most likely touch every cupboard in the world. (Wanna' have a real eye-opener? Read the memoir by Sara Bongiorni titled A Year Without "Made in China." I'm reading it right now--let me know if you want it next.)

And have you noticed the rain situation? As in, there isn't any? There's a drought of news coverage on this as well.

I won't even mention the financial situation, politics, war.

Suffice it to say that lots is going on, and if we were to look at that famous pyramid diagram from that freshman-year required class of Psychology 101, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, you'd see we're on the bottom two rungs here, dealing with some pretty basic needs. Forget self-actualization. Those days are gone for now.

If you, like me, like to know the cold, hard facts and then take whatever small (and large) steps you can to ensure the basic needs of your family and community are met, then join me. Together we can make a difference. Together we can secure food and water and build a strong, sustainable local network that reduces our dependence on gasoline. Together we can make a difference in our ability to sleep well at night.

We are between a rock and a hard place right now. The question is: what are we, as individuals and as a community, going to do about it?