Today, I planted a tree. It’s a tree that I started from the pit of a particularly tasty avocado. While a grafted tree might bear fruit in only a few years, a tree started from a pit will probably take ten years to reach maturity and bear fruit.
To plant the tree here on the island of Hawaii, I had to invest considerable time and effort. Had I planted it just anywhere on our lot, I would have only needed to excavate a hole. Because the Hawaiian Islands are volcanoes, and because Hawaii is the youngest of them, many places on the island have very little soil on the surface, and a lot of lava rock. To dig a hole and plant something here is a commitment. In this case, it was even more of a commitment, because the place I wanted to plant my avocado tree had a large stump rooted through the rock. It took me two full afternoons to extricate the stump - which was about 18" in diameter at the cut, and weighed over 200 pounds - before I could begin digging the hole for the avocado.
I suppose some might think it odd that I would invest that much time and effort into planting and nurturing a tree that will not benefit me for ten years. I am betting, however, that none of those people would be farmers. Especially farmers whose livelihood depends upon crops from trees; peach farmers, orange farmers, almond farmers, etc. Those people understand the value of investing time and effort now, for a future payoff.
My daughter is now in her second year of college. She has committed herself to four years of hard work, to earn her bachelors degree. Though that’s not quite the commitment that I have made in planting my avocado tree (yes, I am joking), it is still effort expended for future benefits. At 19, she understands that.
Why, then, do our elected representatives refuse to understand? Ideally, we would elect the best and the brightest to represent us. Unfortunately, we elect the best self-promoters and the brightest hucksters. So, when gasoline prices rose to over $4 per gallon across the U.S., and citizens, tired of being dependent upon hostile foreign countries for fuel, were pushed to the edge, they screamed, "Drill here! Drill now!"
I was not surprised to hear prominent elected officials utter, as an excuse, "It will take ten years to realize any results from domestic oil exploration." Yeah?!? So? If we don’t do anything, the ten years won’t start ticking. Let’s start the process! In ten years, we will be so proud of our foresight!
What those low-life, lying, condescending, pandering scumbags (I mean, Congressional representatives) were really saying was, "We don’t want to discover more oil under American soil, because that would not fit in with our political agenda. So we are going to appeal to the basest instincts of the lowest common denominator of our constituents - the instant gratification generation - to obscure the truth and promote our agenda."
Now that gasoline prices are back down, we, the sheeple, have relaxed about energy independence. We are being led around by our noses, by a bunch of scheming, plotting idiots. Well, let’s wake back up before things get really out of hand!
The "green" jobs that President Obama promoted are already going overseas! And we have already saddled the next several generations with phenomenal, unconscionable debt. Let’s exhibit a little bit of the foresight and sacrifice for the future that previous generations so generously employed for our benefit. Sure, put up some windmills and solar panels, but drill! Drill here, and drill now!
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