Without Power: A Mainer’s Story
Recently, we lost power due to the end of a hurricane storm. Up here we called it a “Nor'easter” though. It left many of us Mainer’s without power for a lengthy period of time. However, some Mainer’s never lost their power, and some were out for up to nine days. I was one of the lucky ones who had power restored within the four to five day mark.
During this time, we didn’t have any electronics to entertain us. I believe it helped us with bonding together as a family. This was my daughter’s first power outage. Although it’s only me and my daughter, without all the excess noise you begin to learn a lot about one another. I reconnected with my toddler and found things I had been missing. It’s so important these days to just turn off your cell phone, computer, tablet, or television, and just rejoice with your children. Ask them how their day was! Ask them what their favorite color is! Don’t be one of those parents so tuned out from the world around you, that you miss out on the milestones happening right in front of you. My daughter said the word couch. This is huge. It’s a five letter word, and it’s generally a hard word to pronounce for a two-year-old.
But, instead, during this power outage, everyone was tuned into their cell phone devices. Trying to watch the news on Facebook of all places. Everyone was complaining because their power was not turned on, and they didn’t pay the power company money every month for this to happen. Back in the ice storm of 1998, around 350,000 people were out of power for about a month, if not longer. This storm that just happened, took out close to 500,000 houses, camps, schools and facilities. The governor of Maine called a “State of Emergency” for most of the week. That didn’t stop the greediness of most of the Mainer’s surrounding me. It was very annoying. I couldn’t believe how many people were just complaining instead of offering hot meals to those who were out in the cold, day in and day out, working so we could have our power restored. The good thing is there were some people who kept buying them coffee and warm plates. But, most of the state was just disrespectful, and I wish I could send them back to grade school to learn some manners.
I guess what I am trying to get at here, is be thankful for what you have. While you were complaining about not having power, someone was complaining about not having their dad or mom there to tuck them in at night because they were out so late trying to restore your power. Did that particular family complain to you? I doubt it. Be thankful for what you have. Next time this happens, try to remember to thank a lineman for their hard work, instead of getting caught up in your own world of missing The Walking Dead.
