waiting on the world to change

so gas prices are at an all time high...the highest ever, including adjusting for inflation. we close refineries (note the plural there) to do routine maintenance and they can't produce enough gas for the rest of us. and the gas companies are making money hand over fist. how convenient. how clever. how stupid.

and of course they have us over a barrel (no pun intend...who am i kidding? yes it was). we have to put gas in our cars so we can drive to work to make the money to drive to the malls to spend the money to boost our semi-circular economy (which doesn't really boost anything) and to go back to the pumps to spend our money to put gas in our car to drive to work to make the money to buy the things and go back to the pump...

does anyone else feel like a caged rodent on a shiny metal wheel?

when will it matter? when will we really pay attention to the world around us and all that is within it and see the need to make a difference? i can't do that...the problems are too big...the problems are too scary...i just can't. well, we better start. global warming is no joke. war is no joke. poverty, hunger, genocide are no laughing matters. immigration really does exist. quality, affordable health care is not a punch line. yet here we are sitting in a place that has the resources and the people power and the brains to do something about all of the above.
unfortunately, as i write this, the aforementioned slumber. we don't have imagination because no one calls for it...because we are too caught up in the rodent wheel...because we are too blissfully ignorant to want to pay attention. it's easier this way.

but it's not.

it's going to take imagination on a grand scale for us to get out of this mess. and the scary part is, as i look around, i'm more afraid that we are going to have to keep on waiting for the world to change and wait for the day when "our generation is going to rule the population" and maybe then we'll make some strides. i just hope we can do it before it's too late.