Commentary by Danielle Pelkey

The North Jefferson News



I’m going to take the opportunity to let the local residents know how upset I am about the rising prices of everything.

I don’t usually sit and gripe, but I have found that much of my conversations turn into gripe-fests when the topics of money, gas or transportation are brought up. I cringe to think that my gas tank is getting close to the quarter of a tank marker.

That means that a whole $40 to $50 of my hard earned money is about to be sunk into nothing but my daily drives to and from work.

It doesn’t seem right that the price for just one gallon of gas will soon reach the $4 mark. The thought of this infuriates me. The real reason for my frustration is the fact that there is nothing that we, as the citizens of America, can do about it. Our hands are tied and our money is low.

I’ve heard that there are more people losing their jobs and yet the prices for everything are going up.

Groceries are getting out of hand, and God forbid that you should have to ship anything. Even stamps are still rising in cost.

However, I can understand that. When gas prices rise, prices for everything else have to rise. This, in turn, falls on the shoulders of the American citizens, the ones who work hard for every penny that they earn.

I’m starting to think that a bicycle may be the best transportation. If only you wouldn’t stink when you arrived at work though.

Many families are even choosing to cancel their family vacations because of the rising prices of gas. This is called a “staycation.” While on a staycation, the family would stay at home, instead of paying for gas and hotel fees on vacation. However, they get to do anything around town that they usually would not do.

This sounds like fun, but if I know my friends and my co-workers, I would be doing as much work then as I would at any other time, so I’m gonna lobby for our family to go on and at least leave the house for our vacation this year.

I guess I’m just letting off a little steam because other than talking about it, there isn’t much more that we can do. I’m just letting my voice be heard and letting you know that I feel the pain of the rising prices too.

I’m a cheap person anyway, so this is pushing me over the edge. I try to plan out all of my driving for the day at the beginning so as to cut out any unnecessary mileage. When you start to think of your driving in the terms of how much it is going to cost you, your minds starts to think on a different level.

Last week, I figured up that it costs us $4 every time we drive my car to church. It costs $6 to drive my husband’s truck to church. When you put it in an actual dollar amount, it seems to hurt a little more.

Well, all of this griping isn’t doing any of us any good, so I will quit going on about the rising cost of gas, food, postage and anything else that we need in order to live.

Enjoy life — at least you have that to be thankful for.