Down Time

Well, we had a big wind storm in Ohio Sunday afternoon and it left a lot of problems in its wake. Almost 1,000,000 people lost their electric power. Riots, crime, panic, starvation, pollution, disease and floods came upon us.

That may be somewhat of an exaggeration. The truth is that three people were killed by falling trees, and that is tragic. And, some people with illnesses were stuck. However, other than that along with trees down and shingles blown off most of us suffered mostly from going "cold turkey" off of TV, the Internet and the ability to cook.

I drove up to Panera Bread this morning because they were one of the few places with food, coffee and electricity. I stood in line for twenty minutes. I am calling my congresswoman to complain. Twenty minutes without a seat! Where was Bush?!? He failed to get me in immediately and he failed to feed me. (This is satire.)

I stood in line with a man in his forties whose family nearly collapsed from TV withdrawal. His wife kept nagging him to go to the basement and "Jiggle some wires and see if the power would come back". He refused in an act of courage that few modern men are willing to commit when wife and teens are aggrieved.

I think it would be educational if all the power was shut off monthly to train Americans how to deal realistically with minor aggravations. We have life so soft that people think there is a crisis when there is a temporary glitch. If we get too soft we will not be able to respond to real attacks or real crises.

I am reminded of one of my trips to Russia when I stayed in the Seventh Day Adventist compound. It was in the cool of Fall and during the evening the room got pretty cold because there was no heat. However, during the day when the sun shone through the windows the heat came on full blast and it was impossible to turn it off.

That is strange to Americans because we can control our houses and businesses with a local thermostat. That is not, however, the way it works in Moscow where all those decisions are made at a central location. Since there is not enough energy to heat all the places in Moscow at once someone at central planning decided when a section of the city gets heat and hot water. This means that when the hot water is there you take your bath and wash your clothes even if it is at 3:00 AM.

Thankfully, we in the USA do not have central planning but we are moving in that direction with the climate fanatics. Will it come to the place where the Gore followers in Washington, D.C. decide if and when we get heat and hot water? I really enjoy being spoiled.

A Plus from the Storm

It was nice to be in Panera Bread and meet several others with similar issues and challenges who acted like good citizens and good neighbors. We all helped each other get connected to the power outlets and shared like nice people. It was rather heart warming.