Thursday, October 11, 2007

Al Gore's Peace Prize

I met Al Gore once in Hendersonville, Tennessee--in a bank parking lot. Frankly, he scared me--a large, strange man in the suit walking toward me. I would move to avoid him and he would circle back around--a surreal game of tag in a suddenly deserted parking lot. When I realized I was not going to escape him, I let him shake my hand, albeit reluctantly. I had no idea at the time who Al Gore was--it was 1977 and he was running for Congress. I went home and asked my father who the hell Al Gore was(we hadn't been living in Tennessee very long). Later in one of Gore's runs for the White House, I tried to convince myself to vote for him but then remembered our game of tag around that bank parking lot--I think I have viewed him as a bit nuts ever since.
And now--whoopee--Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize. He really ticks me off with his plans on how everyone else but him can conserve energy while he won't give up his private jet. People of privilege always knowing best what the rest of us should do, and mostly, we follow meekly like sheep. I'm not saying there's not global warming, but do we know the true cause? Is it cyclical?

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