I’m old enough to remember when you could pull into a gas station and not only would a smiling attendant rush out to wash the car’s windshield and check its oil but you could also buy a dollar’s worth of gas and, believe it or not, actually get enough gas for that dollar to enable you to drive around for a good little while.

Well, those good old days have been gone for some time now, and it’s extremely doubtful—more like totally improbable—that we will ever see them again. In fact, today the price of oil hit an all-time high of 100 dollars a barrel. A hundred dollars a barrel? I am in shock. How did this happen? It’s scary, that’s what. Especially since we Americans have a fancy for gas-guzzling SUVs and 4 x 4 pickup trucks. Sure, perhaps you still see some smaller cars and trucks on the road, but if you’ve been paying attention, I’m positive you’ve noticed how most vehicles rocketing along the highways and byways of our country are big enough to double as living rooms in a crunch. And I admit it, I’m just as guilty as anyone else, given I drive a double-cab Toyota Tundra with a V-8 engine. But, even though I would like to have something a bit more energy efficient, the truth is, I have no desire whatsoever to cruise about on America’s roadways in what amounts to a sardine can and play Bumper Cars with leviathans of steel and chrome that have tires larger than my entire vehicle. So, that being the case, like many of you, I will either have to “suck it up” and pay these exorbitant continually climbing prices at the pump or else park my Tundra and walk or bicycle to my destinations. Not that I will, not as long as I can scrape up enough money to feed my gas-guzzler, since pedestrians and bicyclists stand even less of a chance on America’s roadways than a vehicle the size of a sardine can.

Of course, it really isn't about whether one drives a big vehicle or a small vehicle, now is it? At least it shouldn’t be. What we should be doing is asking why we Americans must continually suck it up. Why are we being forced to pay such exorbitant prices, prices that amount to highway robbery, each and every time we have to refuel our vehicles? And why, if oil is in such short supply, are the oil companies posting record-breaking profits? I don’t know about you, but it makes me think there’s definitely something rotten in Denmark. Or perhaps I should say “rotten in Washington.”