Ten years ago, the average price of gasoline was $1.25 a gallon. For the average consumer, this was not a problem. Today, it would be considered a blessing, but now the value of the dollar has dropped and natural resources, such as gasoline, are becoming scarce.

When it comes to voting and the youth of America, there is always a portion of citizens that vote merely for the sake of saying that they voted, or cast a ballot without knowing the real consequences of the vote that they cast. Of course when the race for presidency is at hand, everyone has an opinion based on the propaganda and political jargon that has been presented to them.

This is a country without mercy or repose. This is a country that doesn't permit the na've or the faint of heart. In this country, the hunted and the hunter are equals, and there is no room for error or happenchance. In this country, only the new-age strong and proud-to-be crazy survive.

Most people live parallel lives, and it is between those lives that people like to draw thin lines between issues of business and moments of pleasure. In the most ideal of situations, the lines that we draw to separate the parallel lives that we live can be blurred and mixed together.

Almost every day this past year, I have had the displeasure, as a U.S. citizen, to read about the abundance of chaos and aggression that abounds in Iraq because of this country's stance on terrorism and the spreading of democracy. In the upcoming presidential election of 2008, there are many issues that most people can relate to such as abortion, social security, health care and immigration.