Is it crowded in here or is it me? I guess you?ve heard the news.
America is bursting at the seams. This week our nation?s population is hitting 300 million.
I, for one, am a little worried, not to mention a bit cramped.
Have you seen the lines at Baltimore restaurants? In the last few years, countless new eating establishments have opened. But show up at dinner time and chances are you?ll receive your very own vibrating beeper. By the time you?re seated, you?re likely smashed from the wait time at the bar. I can?t figure it out. Where did all these people come from and where did they eat before?
Not only restaurants are filled to overflowing. Venture onto the Baltimore Beltway. In the morning, the Outer Loop is like a parking lot. After 3 p.m., it?s the Inner Loop. This week the Transportation Research Board reports American commutes are getting longer.
Yeah, no kidding.
Visit a doctor?s office, or God help you, an emergency room, and you?re lucky to see a physician before your next birthday.
Air travel has morphed into something like a cattle drive.
Many school class sizes are out of control.
And what about Baltimore supermarkets? How will they ever stock enough toilet paper in preparation for a snowstorm?
When my niece recently told me she was pregnant with her third child, I was amazed.
“Wow,” I said. “Three?s a handful.”
“Not really,” she said. “Three?s the new two.”
With 300 million people crowding restaurants, highways, airports, schools and supermarkets, I wonder whether one should be the new three.
Reports say much of the population increase is caused by immigration, some of it illegal. Our lawmakers are quite at odds over what to do about this and with the high level of bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, I expect they may agree on a solution in the next 40 years or so. By that time, the population is expected to reach 400 million.
As I worry about the havoc this population explosion is having on our environment, I try to find the silver lining. What if every single one of us adopts a pet from a local shelter? That would be good. Perhaps volunteerism will hit an all-time high. What if, in an effort to take up less room, we eliminate the Supersize Me meal? That would be a blessing. And just maybe baseball fans seeking open space will start to fill up Oriole Park again. Well, that last one may be a little far-fetched.
Deborah Stone spent 15 years as a reporter and anchor at WJZ-TV and is currently a freelance writer. A 22-year resident of the Baltimore area, her dog, Elton, allows her and her husband to share his home in Baltimore County.
