The Power of Power Outages
Read more articles on Life's Nuances and Let Me Share With You.August 11, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
August 11, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
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On Thursday, our area was hit with not one, not two, but three terrible storms within a 12 hour period. It caused a power outage the likes of which I don’t think I’ve ever seen in my adult life.
Our neighborhood and surrounding 1-2 mile radius did not have electricity for almost 12 hours. Now, I know that’s nothing compared to the likes of disaster victims suffering the aftermath of tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes and floods-not to mention a whole host of other man-made accidents-but it’s unusual for my area. Therefore, it’s worth a mention or so here.
Frankly, I don’t know how people managed to be without power for days or even weeks. Privileges such as curling irons, air conditioning and heating pads make life better, but going without them isn’t even noteworthy. Hot water, lights, televisions, computers are missed, but they’re not life-sustaining. However, when it comes down to it, it’s food we all worry about. Having a mental debate over whether or not to open the refrigerator door every half hour or so can make a person go crazy.
Around 8 PM on this night, I was asked to go to the local McDonald’s for dinner. Well, the one down the street was closed-and dark. In fact, the entire business strip was black, for block after block. The neon switch was pulled and life as we know it ceased to exist.
It was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve had in a long time. To drive down a
main road, which houses every chain store and restaurant, as well as hordes of local small businesses, and to see nothing, is bizarre. Nothing was lit except for the traffic lights (and thank goodness for those, as many cars were out and about).
Anyway, when I arrived at the next McDonald’s a couple of miles away, I found it operational, as did the other 30 cars in the drive-through line. I decided that service would probably faster if I went in. Hah! I arrived to find a man yelling at a worker about why it had taken 30 minutes and he still didn’t have his order. The worker simply stared at him and didn’t answer, which got him even angrier. An off-duty policeman was behind me, with his radio on, and hearing about downed trees was not exactly comforting. Well, after about 15 minutes I was able to place my order, and asked a young couple who’d just received their food how long it had taken. The man looked right into my eyes and said, “You don’t want to know”. I was really glad to get out of there with my sandwiches (they were out of cups) about 10 minutes later.
I would not want to see how some people become in the face of major disasters, but, at the same time, I know that those situations bring out the best in people as well. Every so often, we should be forced to rough it a little. So we eat crackers. We still have it better than many people on earth. Mother Nature puts us in our places now and then.
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