Editor,
For those who are critical of America's involvement in the Middle East, I would like to pose two simple questions.
First, how do you get to school every morning?
If you jump in your car, your consumption of gasoline becomes a matter of consequence, especially if you do it five days a week and 52 weeks a year.
If, on the other hand, you take the city bus, your consumption of gasoline becomes trivial, especially when divided among all the riders.
Second, how do you travel great distances?
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If you take an airplane, you are traveling in one of the most gas-guzzling means of transportation ever invented.
If, on the other hand, you take the train, you are riding on one of the most fuel-efficient means of transportation known to man. Plus, you avoid the hassle of dealing with unreasonable security issues, you get to see the countryside, you make new friends and you can eat outstanding food in the dining car.
Ironically, the Albuquerque Bus System will be cutting its service dramatically in the next month. And, in case you haven't heard, Amtrak is facing total dissolution in February of 2002.
As Americans, most of us have become oil junkies, totally reliant on Arab oil in our daily lives. And the fact that the Arab states dramatically lowered the cost of oil to record levels after Sept. 11 has now given us a false sense of confidence in its seemingly endless supply and cheap cost.
It's time we stopped intellectualizing about the Middle East situation and started actually doing something about it. One person taking the bus or climbing aboard Amtrak does make a difference.
Charles Reuben
School of Engineering Copy Center staff
