Gas do you know the real cost per gallon

 LET’S GET PUMPED UP...PEACE, JOY, AND THE PRICE OF  A GALLON OF GAS

This has been a strange year—understatement  Captain Obvious?—as we have had few places to go even though the price of gas has been reasonably steady and what most folks would  call “low.”  After asking around a bit  it seems that everybody has a pretty good idea what a gallon of gas costs most the time.  It also seems that we are.concerned about it, talk about it, tell each other when we find it very cheap or a little high in places.... In short, when it comes to gas we give it a lot of attention and share  knowledge which leads me to some questions—— big shocker right?

Let’s say  the price of gas within a dollar is $3.00  a gallon and let’s say being very  liberal with these estimates we buy 30 gallons a week—most people don’t — and we do that  52 times a year.  That mean  we will spend roughly $4,680 in a year. On gas and almost everybody has a ballpark idea  about what we spend for each gallon.  However, it you ask people what they spend  per year the answer will not be so fast.  

Let’s dive a little deeper....our  health care—namely a hospital stay.  Very few people can tell you what the average cost of one day in the hospital costs and what the average hospital stay is....so let’s go there.  A recent  national study shows that the average cost. For a 24 hour stay in the hospital is approaching $15,000.  That means we would have to spend $9.00 a gallon for gas for an entire year to equal the cost of one day in the hospital.  Now consider that the average hospital stay is 4.5 days and for one hospitalstay we are paying well over $30.00 per gallon.  In fact it’s probably  north of $35.    So why are we paying so much attention to the price of gas and not the efforts to keep each other healthy in body mind and soul?

Let’s dive a bit deeper still.  Two years ago  a nationwide study of nursing homes showed that a semi-private room runs on average  $245.00 per dayLet’s return to l the gallon of gas.  If the same figures are accurate—and some say they are low we are spending  over $89,000 a year for one person to be  in a nursing  home situation and that would be roughly 18 times  what we spend on gas so to get the equivalent  we are talking pulling up to the pump and shelling out $54.00 per gallon and that’s before you buy beef jerky and a lottery ticket and that cute panda key chain  up on the counter.  Who here has been checking the cost of nursing homes. On a weekly basis?  

Lest we remark that these are costs for. The sick and old—I know  I could say “elderly but  that’s the same as saying Pre-owned instead of used.... let’s look at our  youth.  The U.S. Department. Of Education has determined  using census  and school district data that the  average cost per student. Per year is about $12,616.00 soback to the price of gas— would you raise an eyebrow if your gas was $7.75 per gallon?  When is the last time  we seriously looked at the structure and the cultural values in our schools/. 

Well we have  gone. Down this road to get to this place... the place where the question must be asked...

Why do we spend so much of our time and attention  on the price of gas?  Clearly other things  cost way more and have a much greater  economic and life  impact, yet we don’t look at the signs, we don’t  expect to see a sign hanging outside a hospital  noting the cost of one-day’s stay.  We don’t see any coupons for  “green Meadows  Nursing and Retirement  Village.  There  are no buy one get 10% off  you next Algebra course sales.  What’s stranger is that we don’t seem to be at all bothered by this... we don’t talk about it...we don’t tell each other  when we find a great deal.  So clearly  it seems we don’t pay enough attention to Some things—-which brings me to peace and joy.

When we’re sitting at the intersection and spot  the sign that says gas is $2.42 per gallon wouldn’t  it be awesome if we thought “what’s it cost in money and time to  tell a friend we care?  What  would it cost to change our. Daily conversation when meeting  someone to ask a few  different questions.  We often ask where someone. Is from—what they do for a living—how many kids they have—do you come here often?—and sometimes we pay attention to the answers.  We find out the cost of a gallon of gas when it comes to people and yet we could ask...

Have you had a good day?  How could we wiper together. On something  to make your. Life better?   We could ask what’s your favorite  exercise?  How about asking someone  “how do you learn new things best these days?”  How about ... “when’s the last time you felt your soul get stronger?  You. See these are peace and joy questions and if we all know the price of a gallon of gas maybe we could pay a bit more attention. To some other things...because  when we pay attention we pass along knowledge and stay connected.  

So Fill- er- up!