Enough is Enough!!!!!!!!

Ok, so we all know the gas stations are gouging prices at the pump, but now everyone's going to make a profit? CRAP!!!! I jsut received a letter from our carpet vendor saying they are going to add $3.00 per invoice (usually they come out and do several apartments and send a separate invoice for each apartment completed....so, I don't really get why we'd be charged each invoice--it should be per trip!!!!) to their already ridiculously high charges to compensate for the raise in prices. Let me quote for you:

"For the past several years, we've been able to absorb the gradual increase in the price of gas, but now we are forced to pass on some of the fuel costs to our clients. We will add a small fuel surcharge on our invoices to help us offest some of these charges, so that we can continue to remain a financially responsible company meeting your carpet care and water restoration needs."

God, this country is so messed up! Everyone acts like they're soooo concerned about the victims of the hurricane, but in all reality, they're just out for a dollar. It's bad enough that gas stations are wrongfully raising prices in response to people's fears, but now these stupid little companies are trying to make a buck as well? Now a fellow associate is telling me that people are using pumps and are stealing gas from people's cars in parking lots....nice. No one really cares about anyone in this country....it's all about money, money, work, money, work.....what is this country coming to? Why is there no emphasis on family? Why do Americans have less personal time than they do time at work? In a lot of European countries, they take siestas in the middle of the day....they go home for 2 hours, have a lunch with their family and then go back to work for a couple of hours. They care about their families and they care about their elderly. This country throws their elderly into homes and forgets about them. It teaches us that to be successful, we must go to college and get a job making a lot of money. Why? What's the point? So we can have stuff? In all reality, who cares about stuff? If given a choice, would you rather have more time with your family or more money? Think about that...It's not your fault if you say more money....that's what we're taught from the time we're little. Happiness does not equal money; it does not equal a mercedes; it does not equal a new pair of Nikes. I get very torn about raising Blake with these ideals. I mean, if I teach him that the newest, best stuff makes you popular, he'll be just like the rest of the country. If I don't teach him, he'll be treated like an outcast as he gets older. No parent wants to see their child treated differently.

So, in conclusion, now that I've settled down, I'm saddened by the largest national disaster the United States has ever seen in, which has taken place in New Orleans, but I'm even more deeply saddened by the state of the people living in this country. People who have recently lost their homes are more concerned with breaking into Foot Locker for the newest pair of shoes than they are with trying to save other human beings. We've become such a selfish people. Where are we learning these mindsets? Is this something natural that humans learn just from being alive? Have we been programmed by tv and advertisers that we're not cool unless we have a pack of Joe Camel Cigarettes? Does the government have an influence on this? I dont' know the answer...I do wish I had the solution, though.