ABC's Good Morning America on Tuesday morning....

.... unwittingly showed America several 'silver linings' inside the dark clouds of gas prices! Here is a verbatim excerpt:

7:14am CHRIS CUOMO: We begin with the tough choice many families are now facing. Food or fuel? That's the reality as prices continue their steady climb. Oil hit another record just this morning. So, our Bianna Golodryga is in New Jersey to show us the sacrifices people are now making. Good morning, Bianna.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Good morning, Chris. As we speak, the price of gas at this New Jersey station is going up five cents. You can see the gas station owner Joe changing the price right now. Take a look at this, $75 is what the last customer paid here and you can imagine the sacrifices Americans are having to make to be able to afford gas at that price.

JUAN MARTINEZ: Our church is approximately 35, 40 miles away. We've really cut down on the amount of times that we've come into service since the price has gone up.

GOLODRYGA: That was Juan Martinez last November, discussing the effect high gas prices were having on his family's relationship with God. Since then, the average price for a gallon of gas has skyrocketed 12 percent nationwide, from $3.08 a gallon to $3.51. From San Francisco, where at least 15 gas stations have shattered the $4 per gallon mark, to Kansas City where Americans are feeling the pinch of record-high gas prices.

V Smith e-mailed her story to our Kansas City affiliate KNBC. "I have had to cut back on after-school activities for my daughters because I cannot afford to take them or pay for the activities anymore." Some people even say that they are changing their diets, cutting down on costly prescription drugs or walking instead of driving to the local grocery store. All in hopes of saving money on gasoline.

It's a burden for millions of families, but especially for the little ones, as Barbara Hatfield writes, "It's not fair to have to tell your children that we have to eat a smaller meal this evening or skip breakfast because we had to buy gas."

One way Juan Martinez in Phoenix was able to avoid paying the high prices was actually shopping at wholesale clubs like Sam's, Costco and BJs. He actually saved a lot of money, going from $3.30 a gallon to $3.18 a gallon. This is something, Chris, that a lot of people are actually going out and driving out to the outer parts of town to be able to get cheaper gas and going to some of these wholesale shops.

CUOMO: I'm sure. I'm sure.

Let's see now -- Folks are finding churches closer than 40 miles away, walking to their neighborhood grocery store instead of driving, feeding the kids breakfast at home instead of at drive-thru's, eating dinner at home or smaller take-out orders, not chauffeuring the kids to all manner of expensive after school activities, shopping carefully - finding wholesale clubs for their purchases!

Sounds a lot like the cures for a lot of what ails us in this country - doesn't it? Or, paraphrasing Walter, that ole' liberal icon of CBS, "That's the way it was!!"