I just looked at the news to find that the Gulf Coast oil gusher still pours its ooze into the water.

While blaming British Petroleum for the catastrophe, one person suggested that Americans also might consider curbing their oil addiction. Lots of luck. I’m not sure black-gummed marine animals, despoiled beaches, and destroyed livelihoods will do the trick. So far, the only thing that caused us to drive less was when gasoline sold for four dollars a gallon. I’m sorry for those who suffered as a result of our changed habits, such as gas station and motel owners, but is less driving in itself a reason to mourn?

When I worked overseas, I would come home and marvel at the increasingly clogged freeways, the new malls, where before cows had chewed their cud in pastures, and, of course, more housing developments further and further out in the hinterlands. To my mind, the automobile had morphed from symbol of independent individualism to enslaver.

That which made us independent now constricts our choices. Children no longer can walk safely to school, to a friend’s house, or to a movie. They must be driven. The elderly must sit home alone or be warehoused into senior citizen dwellings of varying degrees of comfort when they lose the ability to drive even to the store for groceries. The less well-off, not being able to give up limited resources to buy and maintain a car, must content themselves with whatever jobs are accessible by walking or mass transit.

If the economic downturn ends, shall we return to building another super highway, another mall, swap another farm for development? More than the environment is at stake. We don’t know our neighbors. How could we? We have no time. Our commutes grow ever longer. A car in the shop for repairs is a nightmare. We can’t even buy a loaf of bread without it, let alone pick up the children from after school daycare.

In some of the other countries where I lived, walking was the main form of transportation, supplemented perhaps by a bus. I noticed people out and about, however, children on the way to school, the elderly sitting and keeping an eye on things. Small businesses catered to their walking customers.

We might think about it. Have we given up a precious commodity for the luxury of stewing in traffic jams? Or have we decided that community is optional, but the car is not?