We are only dependent because we can be

Recently I was fortunate to experience a power reduction issue at my house – I say fortunate as many people in my area had the power reduction issue coincide with a generous oversupply of water and/or were able to finally answer the question “If a tree falls in a hurricane does it make a sound and will it take out my power for a week?”

The weekend started with a hurricane type weather event. I was fortunate to get tickets to NC State vs Notre Dame in Too-Many-Pads Ball. It was a tad wet and we were really lucky we weren’t playing Oregon as they would have killed us – their team being called the Ducks and all (joke explanation inserted for Mum back in NZ). After the game the Monkey and I swam home to the Turtle and her new favorite babysitter, Blonderine (it was a wee bit windy and rainy) and power was still doing it powering stuff thing. However that would not be for long. A few loud crashes in the neighborhood and screams could be heard around the burbs as all of a sudden X Box’s suddenly just became boxes and Playstations could play no more. Sure some of the lucky ones had laptops and tablets but without world wide interweb access over wifi who could they send Snapchat Facetimes to? We decided enough was enough and headed to Big Blues house as he had power – for now ☺

Sunday had us headed home past a couple of closed breakfast joints, cars that had done bad boat impersonations, riverbanks that hadn’t fully committed to the 'bank' part of their names and detouring past a few trees with vertical hold issues. No power at home, no worries, naptime and book time. I was sure the kids would not have a problem with that.

I was wrong. 

Fortunately their Mum had power so off to Casa de Madre they went. I went back to the dark Casa de Kiwi to drink the beer before it got warm – surely the power would come back on that night.

I was wrong.

Okay, so the power crews weren’t able to work on the sunny beautiful day after the hurricane – maybe they were all at church – luckily the local beer store has power – I can survive one more night with a dark TV screen.

I was wrong – well I was wrong in thinking that it would be one more night – in total it was 4 nights, 5 days with no power. I had hot water (thank you gas water heater), a laptop that could get charged at the office, a cell phone that no one ever calls (I am so lonely), a gas grill to cook bacon on and cold beer. I survived easily, I had a roof over my head, clean clothes, water and worst-case scenario I could go and stay with a friend of mine who plays the bass guitar. My biggest concern was whether Buzzy, my electric toothbrush, would survive the lack of whatever it is that makes her go buzz. All in all it was a bit of fun, something to blog about and something to have fun with on the book of faces #RaleighBlackout2016 (it never caught on).

In the midst of it all with daily updates to family in NZ I made the comment that 'we are only dependent because we can be'. It may sound a little wanky (well a lot wanky to be honest) but we often take so much for granted that it is not until we lose something like the ability to watch television and have the light switch actually function as a light switch, do we realize how dependent we are on it. We have become dependent because it is always there.  We don’t have to worry about it being absent because that is just insane, how could we not have power?  It is always there.

But what happens when it isn’t.

Well what happens, or what should happen, is that we adapt our behaviors. Some people adapt by powering up their generators and hot spots (which is akin to not being affected at all), some head to a friend or family members house because they still have a functioning DVR and some people stay home and read a book by candlelight or headlamp. It all depends on who is in the house and how dependent those people have become on what is missing. We (well an awful lot of us) live in a world that many others cannot comprehend. Running water, electricity, jobs, roofs, clean sheets and cold beer (actually I think cold beer is universal – except in England) are things we are dependent on because we can be. We get to worry about major issues like how the barista misspelt our names at some coffee making place, whether the latest tinfoil hat wearing nutjobs conspiracy theory about CNN is correct, whether Brad and Jen will get back together and a whole bunch of other trivial shit. We have become so dependent on our current situation that we wouldn’t last 2 nights on a fake survival show with someone named Bear.

I mean it is not like I was suffering without power – if it had gone on much longer I would have had to make some changes to the way I handled laundry, lighting and heating (don’t bring tiki torches inside kids) but it was no big deal to me. It was a bigger deal to people that still had power; they were having issue comprehending how you live 5 days without it at home (very easily). It is all a matter of adapting and overcoming. When we become dependent on something as simple as power it can be a big deal when it goes away. If we never have the opportunity to become dependent on something then it becomes a luxury, and there are many luxuries we can quite easily live without. We are only dependent because we can be.

As usual some poetic license has been taken in the writing of this blog, the most notable one being the recurring statement “I was wrong” – as anyone who knows me knows I was not wrong, never have been and never will be wrong ☺ Some may have noticed a lack of bad language and innuendo in recent blogs; I plan to correct that omission next week. I would like to thank Hurricane Matthew for the assistance in creating this week’s work of fiction (or not) that passes as a blog and counts against the community services hours that I am required to perform.

Work hard, play hard and earn your inspiration.

Happy Poets Day