A Cause Greater than Ourselves

When I was a girl, my mother allowed me to take to school her ration books from WWII for show-and-tell. The selfless actions of citizens during WWII has always captivated my imagination: Victory Gardens, saving metal, buying bonds. I never realized why I felt this was so neat until I grew up; many people worked together for a cause greater than themselves.
During my childhood there was no such cause. Although my father was tres involved in the goings-on of our community, our family was pretty isolated from any causes. Sure, people marched for Civil Rights, but they were Radicals, and we were not. So the concept of people working for a cause greater than themselves seemed pretty romantic to me.
This all occurred to me yesterday as I rode my bike on yet another errand. Finally, we all have the opportunity to work for a cause greater than ourselves, much greater. Our lovely little planet needs our help, folks.
I know many of you deny the existence of Global Warming. Okay. Do you deny that our air quality sucks? Do you deny that gas is exorbitant? That cars pollute? That petroleum is a limited resource? That plastic doesn't degrade back into the earth to continue the natural cycle? That many petroleum-based items are carcinogenic?
So. Buy a clue. Now is your chance. Work together for a Greater Cause.
Make or buy cloth bags for your purchases, and use them.
I overheard a lady at yoga class complaining, "Oh, I have one of those bags. When I unload it in the kitchen, I always forget to put it back in the car." So hang it on the door to the garage, ditzoid, and put it in on your next trip. BTW, why not have enough for your groceries. What good is one going to do you?
We have neighbors who have ONE more child in the home than we (and she is not in diapers), and their garbage can is overflowing EVERY Wednesday. Their one recycling bin is about half full, while our THREE recycling bins are full, and our garbage can is always half full. (Although I do squeeze the air out of the garbage bags before tying them.) Recycling bins are free in this community, and you can go get an extra one any time you like. Do you think garbage disappears when your garbage can is emptied? Well, it's not. It all has to go somewhere, and we are lazy, arrogant, consuming monsters who create tons of garbage, garbage that has to go somewhere.
Forego plastic cups. Use the glass ones and wash them. And styrofoam, don't get me started.
It is time for us to declare our independence from the oil companies.
This reminds me of a story. It really is on topic, bear with me and you'll see. Or not. But keep reading.
When I was 12 or so my mom went for her weekly hair appointment. She had a beehive til the day she died, and Thursday was the day to restore it. Anyway, every year, she had Christmas gifts for both her hairdresser and the shampoo girl. Mother meticulously budgeted her Christmas presents, and the hairdresser got a gift costing xx dollars and the shampoo girl got a gift costing n% of xx. It was Mother's own formula and it worked for her.
So she went to the hairdresser laden with her gifts and when she got there, the shampoo girl was not there. "Where is she?" Mother asked. "She's in the hospital," the hairdresser explained. "Her husband shot her again."
My parents were definitely not the type to give words of wisdom. We weren't taught lifeskills at all. But this particular day was the exception. "Listen to me," Mother said on her return. "The first time he shot her, it was his fault. The second time, it was her fault."
That was 40 years ago and I have never forgotten it. The shampoo girl should have Left the Bastard.

So. Back to the oil companies. They are shooting you day after day after day. Shooting your budget. Shooting our air quality. Shooting our health. Leave the bastards. Ditch your gas-guzzling vehicle. Walk, bike or take the bus when you can. We can't afford to relegate the responsible behavior to the "tree-huggers" another day. Turns out, they were right all along. Even if you (rolling eyes) deny the existence of Global Warming, there are enough other reasons to work together. It's our chance to pull together, each in his own way, for a Cause Greater than Ourselves.