Opinion: Price of cheap gasoline too high

Local columnist

When I was in high school, Dad would give us money to go buy him cigarettes. Of course we needed gas in the green van to buy those cigarettes. And we couldn’t buy cigarettes without cruising “The Drag.” And then, of course, we’d need a soda.

This sounds kind of like the children’s book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” In the early 1980s, it was like, “If you give a teen a dollar.” That’s all it took. Just a dollar or two of gas for us to cruise around “The Drag” in Portales and cruise around Lindsey Park in “Taco Town.” By the way, we north Portales natives dubbed it “Taco Town” ourselves.

I don’t remember how much Marlboro’s were back then. I never could get the hang of smoking, not even as an adult. As for sodas, they were under a dollar each. Sometimes we could get the two-liters for a buck and a six-pack of Dr. Pepper for just a little more.

Anyway, I am enjoying the low cost of gasoline right now. In the early millennium words of Daddy Yankee, “Dame mas gasolina!” I get excited how far $20 in the tank can go these days.

On the other side of the tank, though, I feel incredibly guilty when I think of the high cost of cheap gasoline. I have friends and friends of friends who work in the oilfields around southeastern New Mexico.

I like being able to jump in my car and drive from Hobbs to my hometown of Portales and back with just a little more than 20 bucks. I keep hoping the low oil prices will make real estate in Lea County more affordable. But as I drive across the Llano Estacado, I think of the people who’ve lost their jobs. My friend Ana said her grandson will probably lose his new doublewide mobile home.

Why can’t we have it both ways? Low gas prices and high-paying oil jobs? I’m a teacher and I’ve seen it affect some of my students, too.

And why can’t I just go back to the carefree days of my teens? Everything seemed to be on “cruise control.” We were happy with the blaring music on FM, our bubbly, fizzling sodas, waving to our friends along the way, and then, when we got home, plotting another excuse to take the green machine for another spin.

Helena Rodriguez is a Portales native. Contact her at: [email protected]