The power faileth
NOVEMBER 7, 2007 (WEDNESDAY) – Monday morning brought a power outage to Rockport and other places. It started around 6:15 a.m. and lasted until a few minutes after 8:00 a.m.
We had the privilege of starting the day with peace and quiet. No T.V., no radio, no computer, no coffee maker, no alarm clock, no lights, no clocks, no fans – nothing but peace and quiet, lots of peace and quiet, abundant peace and quiet. Know what? Peace and quiet are overrated. I prefer coffee and email. And noise. At least some noise.
Don’t get me wrong. Peace and quiet are fine, in their place. They are better when you expect them and plan for them. Out in the woods, maybe in a deer stand, m-m-m-m, love that peace and quiet. On the banks of a stream, with lazy ripples around the fishing cork, a-h-h-h, wonderful peace and quiet.
But to wake up not knowing what time it is, no way to brew the coffee, afraid to open the refrigerator for fear of spoiling stuff, radios not blaring the news of why the power is out or how long it is expected to be gone, using flashlights and matches to find your way around the house, is a throwback to a simpler, not-as-good time.
O.K., I have to admit, the coffee talk is just talk – we have a gas range, so I was able to boil the water and make the coffee, with the help of a flashlight so I could see what I was doing. And I really did enjoy the quiet.
We do love and depend on electricity, don’t we? In more ways that we ever think about as the day goes by. Let’s face it. We’re spoiled in many ways by modern technology. We might be better off without it, and our spiritual life might be improved without all the modern distractions, but going “cold turkey” without all the stuff that electricity provides is not as much fun as we think it is.