Recently there has been no place to escape the heat on the east coast unless you could find some cool ocean water like this at Emerald Isle, NC.
Consistent temperature in the nineties without the temperatures falling to sixties at night can fray the fragile fabric that lets us get along with one another.
One evening I was warm after working in the yard, I walked over and jumped in our neighborhood pool. It was so warm that I went back and got a thermometer.
The temperature was almost ninety degrees Fahrenheit. I came back in the morning, and the water had only cooled to 84 degrees. Fortunately the ocean water has been staying in the upper seventies so it is a great alternative if the pool gets hot.
Recently I have also found people a little more on edge, I suspect it is more than the heat. The economy isn't great and certainly the real estate business is miserable. Then there are the twin demons of high energy costs and high food costs.
I think the tougher things get the more unreasonable some people get. However, it doesn't have to be that way. Sometimes it helps to realize that others before us have faced much more difficult times.
I believe in the resiliency of people. While we are going through tough times, this is not the first time, and likely it will not be the last.
As this is father's day, perhaps it is time for a thought from my father. He once told me that he was proud that he made enough money to pay taxes.
When I was young that puzzled me, but in a year when few real estate agents are making money, my dad's advice has some wisdom to it.
None of us like to pay taxes or high energy costs. These new higher costs are forcing us to make changes which perhaps we should have made years ago.
We will adjust, and hopefully there will be some help for those whose budget cannot cover the cost of adjustment.
While it is easy to see the glass as half empty, I choose to see it as half full. If the day is so hot that it is hard to find a way to cool off, I see it as an opportunity to go for a free dip in the ocean. Fortunately the six or seven miles to the beach doesn't take a lot of gasoline.
We will cut back in the meals that we eat out and work harder to adjust for the higher costs. We are not going to quit enjoying life because gasoline costs over $4 per gallon.
Sometimes the free things, like the dip in the ocean, are the most enjoyable ones anyway.
The high energy costs are going to create some opportunities. I am willing to bet that in ten years we will have figured out how to do more with less oil.
If that is the case, this energy pain might be worth it.
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