Greeson: Shortages of oil, attention span and patience all collide


              A gas station displays a sign informing customers it is out of certain grades of gasoline in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Colonial Pipeline said it is beginning construction of a temporary pipeline that will bypass a leaking section of its main gasoline pipeline in Shelby County, Ala. Fuel supplies in at least five states, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, were threatened by the spill, and the U.S. Department of Transportation ordered the company responsible to take corrective action before the fuel starts flowing again. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
A gas station displays a sign informing customers it is out of certain grades of gasoline in Atlanta, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016. Colonial Pipeline said it is beginning construction of a temporary pipeline that will bypass a leaking section of its main gasoline pipeline in Shelby County, Ala. Fuel supplies in at least five states, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas, were threatened by the spill, and the U.S. Department of Transportation ordered the company responsible to take corrective action before the fuel starts flowing again. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Did you ask someone this weekend if they had gas?

No, it's not about their dietary choices, not considering there's a real gas shortage around here.

photo Jay Greeson

How real?

Well, Dot at the Mapco on top of Signal Mountain heading toward Sequatchie County said Saturday that the station was out of gasoline, and she did not know when the next truck was coming. (For what it's worth, my 9-year-old got a jumbo pack of Reese's, a fill-up with which he was quite content.)

Dot's not wrong, of course. The ripple effects from the pipeline spill south of here are being felt around us.

A gas shortage, in this day and age, feels as dated as getting up and turning the TV on by hand or a busy signal on a phone.

A gas shortage, when we can have unlimited food options delivered to our front door or can shop for school clothes in our den wearing our PJs?

A gas shortage in a world where we never have to speak with someone to fill our tanks, and there is growing number of pumps out there that broadcast some late-night talk shows while we wait?

A gas shortage is hard for a lot of folks to identify with in today's comfortable, gotta-have-it-now world.

This "shortage" also raises the question about where we are, as Americans, most dependent. What, if yanked from us tomorrow, would have the most powerful effect?

If we take gasoline off the list, here are three more necessities that would cripple us because of our new-work addictions:

Our cell phones. And this one even hurts to type, but the national, head-down, zombie-staring connection with whatever iPhone or Samsung device we have is tragic. Want to have fun someday at lunch? Count the number of folks you see at the Subway with their head in a smartphone. And that's whether they are a party of one or a party of five.

Our TVs. And this one I'm as guilty of as anyone. Name the last book you read. And no, Harry Potter was not recently released. You'll be stunned by the numbers. According to the New York Times, Americans watch more than five hours of TV a day. Yes, five hours.

Our arguments. Too many of us are fueled not by passionate interests as much as exclaiming interactions. We embrace the conflict, and not with the pursuit of finding what's right as much as proving that we're right. (And if you are seething by this sentence, well then, this may need to be No. 1 on your list).

So where does that leave us as we wonder when the next gas trucks find their way to the Tri-State area?

How about this: Find the one on the list above that directly affects you and see if you can go a day without it.

Put down your phone, turn off the TV or goodness forbid embrace listening rather than lambasting for one day.

I'm in, and will even take the batteries out of the remote.

(As long as it's not a college football Saturday, of course.)

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343. His "Right to the Point" column runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays on A2.

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