Years ago as a small child I remember the long lines of people waiting to buy gasoline. Sometimes they waited patiently and sometimes tempers got the best of people. Apparently history is repeating itself because here we go again.

So, who’s to blame? Since we generally love to blame our problems on others, we naturally attack the first and easiest target we see—the clerks who take our money. After all, they work there so obviously it must be their fault, right? They’re all members of a secret society who take it upon themselves to hijack our wallets. A bit silly, isn’t it? Nevertheless, the gas station clerks are the ones taking the brunt of our anger about the high price of gas. That is, when someone doesn’t pump and run.

The experts tell us that one problem is that we as a nation are in desperate need of new refineries. Then there is the great demand for oil that is only increasing, particularly here and in China. And as always, the poor are being hit the hardest. For most Americans with reasonably comfortable incomes, the rise in prices hurts but hasn’t caused any major changes in their lives. For lower-income people, each new hike means making changes in daily routines, buying less of something else and going without extras.

In my case I commute to school on a daily basis and average 500 miles per week. On Fridays I make the trip for only one class, but what else can I do? I seriously doubt that the University is going to make schedule changes just for people like me. So, I stopped buying lunch in order to pay for gas.

Officials tell us to drive less to save fuel. In some instances that is possible, but in rural areas such as this we have no choice because there is no mass transit system. Let’s face it: we all feel a sense of entitlement to the fuel. We love our cars and showing them off and we use them at the drop of a hat. Instead of walking across the campus and crossing the street to get lunch at Wendy’s, we drive there. Now, how lazy are we getting?

Hopefully, things will soon get better and gas prices will begin to even off and maybe even drop. But we’re all going to have to face the fact that someday oil may not be that plentiful and major changes will have to be made. After all, nowhere does the Constitution guarantee us a right to unlimited cheap fuel.