Help! There’s no gas!

Okay I’ll admit that when Ike reared his ugly face on the coast of Texas I wasn’t very concerned.  I felt bad for the families directly affected by the storm, and everyone who got displced by the storm, but I thought that it wouldn’t really affect me.  There were rumors flying around that there was going to be a gas shortage caused by potential damage to the refining facilities on the coast of Texas.  So of course everyone ran out to the gas station and filled up.  Due to the sudden increase in demand a few stations ran out of gas.  I still wasn’t worried though.  The same thing happpend 3 years ago when Katrina hit.  Gas prices went up then, but the “shortage” was short lived.  A few days later there was plenty of gas to be had.  I thought the same would be true this time around, but here we are almost 2 weeks after the hurricane hit and there is still a serious shortage of gas.  First of all I would like to say I was wrong!  This is quickly turning into a serious issue.  In the areas surrounding my work and home almost no gas stations have gas.  When a station does get some gas in a line forms that is over an hour long and the supply is quickly exhausted.  There have been reports of fights breaking out at the pumps, and the police have been recruited at some stations to direct traffic and keep the peace.  It is crazy!  I cannot confirm this, but I have heard that this hasn’t really been a problem in other parts of the country.  So this begs the question “what is causing all of this chaos?”  I have no idea, but I wish it would end.  It is very frustrating, but I must admit that a part of me is very fascinated by the whole situation too.  I know that sounds pretty twisted, but just think about it.  We are living history right now.  This is something people will talk about for years.  I remember learning in school about a gas shortage that happend sometime in the 1970′s.  I remember seeing pictures of gas stations with long lines of people waiting for gas.  Now I am witnessing that on my way home from work.  This is something I will probably tell my grandkids about.  Hopefully they will mostly be fascinated by the fact that cars used to run on gasoline!  Call me crazy, but we are in crazy times.  And the God of the universe has brought the United States of America, the greatest country in the world through tougher times than these.  Some cheap readily available gasoline would be nice though