LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Please forgive this letter since it is more of a confession than anything else.
I remember asking myself immediately during the attacks on September 11th , “who is going to benefit financially from this atrocity.”
I received the answer yesterday while filling up the car with gasoline, I AM!
Until I read the articles in the February issue of NEXUS magazine about a week ago I was constantly bewildered by the incredibly low gas prices, considering there was a war going on.
Since I AM the microcosm in the macrocosm and because I enjoy low gas prices as much as oil producers enjoy selling it to me, I now realize my micro-responsibility in the macro-tragedy.
We are all beneficiaries of September 11th.
The need and greed for oil is our shared shame.
We have the technology to eliminate the dependency on oil but WE (and I include myself), refuse to insist on its application, (read: it is not my problem, it is too difficult or expensive to convert to an electric car or solar power). Not true in any case.
The low fuel prices paid for with human lives is something we all have to live with, unfortunately.
Not to worry, though; some day the oil will be all gone and if we haven’t learned something by that time we will be told that we need to kill for water while being surrounded by it.
Perhaps those of us living in Canada will finally understand what it is like to be an Afghani, Kuwaiti, South African, etc.
Thane Heins
