The Things We Take for Granted

Posted by Sandra Williams Apr 10, 2007

Last year we had a blackout for about 24 hours and our whole neighborhood was freaking out. No lights, no ovens, no air conditioning. (Luckily it was summer) We were also told to boil our water or drink bottled water. The few of us that had barbecues got together and cooked meals on them. We were still lucky to have meals to cook, but not too many seemed to appreciate that. Some of the children were acting silly and screaming "We're all going to die!” It was actually one of the few times that I've seen most of the neighbors out socializing and working together.

It just magnified the fact to me about how spoiled we really are. One lady was pointing and yelling, "Make sure you don't burn my steak!" One of the children complained about the sticky spaghetti noodles which were overcooked on the barbecue in all the commotion. I rigged up some coffee in a pot and there were some grumblings about the floating grounds.

People's biggest beef that day was their lack of air conditioning and TV, yet some of these people feel they're poor. I guess it depends on who you're comparing yourself to. To someone who has to work their butt off all day in Africa selling oranges for 10 cents, we look pretty darn rich.

If everyone wasn't blasting their air conditioners we wouldn't have had the blackout in the first place. We managed to make do with a few kiddie swimming pools and some of us retreated temporarily to cooler basements.

Still, we had a home, food, water and shelter and some did not. I think it was a good thing that happened that day because it tore people away from their televisions and computers long enough to meet some of their neighbors and share a meal together. It also helped some of us see that we use way too much electricity which is not good for the environment. Maybe it even made some of us realize how much we take for granted and how lucky we really are for all we have.