The Power of Power

A couple weeks ago, the power went out. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was busy trying to make my way down a long list of household chores. I’d been working on a sewing project and I had a lot of different things plugged in, so at fist I thought I’d blown a fuse. It turned out, however, that the entire neighborhood’s lights had gone out.

The outage only lasted for an hour and a half or so, long enough to raise the house temperature seven degrees and to set me way behind on my list. See, I couldn’t get anything done without the power. I simply didn’t have any chores that didn’t require its use. I also didn’t feel much like moving around while the temperature rose those seven degrees.

So I simply sat myself down in the big fluffy chair in the living room to read a magazine. As I did so, it occurred to me that this, too, was an activity that could require power. What if the lights had gone out in the evening? And then, instead of reading, I continued to ponder this phenomenon of the all-powerful power.

When I was in India, the power went out all the time. Usually, we were able to go about our business, as if nothing had happened. In fact, nothing really had happened. The occurrence was so commonplace that we thought nothing of it. Sure, if the fans weren’t spinning on the ceilings, we’d definitely notice an increase in sweat production; but air conditioning was nonexistent, regardless of what the power was doing, so we’d be sweating with or without the fans.

The lights would be out, but we could still do the laundry (because we did it by hand), and we could still cook supper (because we did it with gas). We could even continue with our sewing projects because those were generally done with a simple needle and thread. The power didn’t have nearly as much power in India.

Now, I’m not saying India's way is better. Certainly it’s not wrong for us to rely on power the way we do. We have found ways to make our lives more efficient and productive – traits that are generally thought of positively. Life isn’t always about doing things faster, but let’s face it: we live in a society where it’s just not practical to sew curtains by hand. And do you know how long it takes to wash a load of laundry without a machine? So no, I’m not saying we should live without power, or even with less of it. I’m simply saying that we should try to have a grasp on the power that power has over us.

When we forget where we'd be without the things we have (whether they require power or not), we risk taking those things for granted. And before you know it, it’s Sunday afternoon, and we’re stuck in the middle of a long list of household chores that we can’t get through because our machines won’t work until Florida Power & Light comes out to fix whatever has broken.

Maybe this is a chance for us to take a break and enjoy the opportunity to not do much of anything. Or maybe it’s a chance for us to reflect on all those seemingly small things that we often think nothing about but could hardly live without. Now that's power.