Opportunity Lost

I guess I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t lose power on Sunday. The fallout of a previous natural disaster and infestation of beetles meant there were few trees to fall down and take the power with it. I did have to shovel and only today feel a little less sore and stiff… but all told winter's premature entrance really didn’t interrupt my regular routine all that much.

But I go onto Facebook and I see – I know – that there are several who haven’t passed the recent days so complacently. It’s getting cold, cold that permeates the walls and everything about a house unlit in the dwindling days of autumn. I know this. I know, too, that this is the third crazy storm hitting Massachusetts and wreaking havoc in the last six months. You can take the law of threes or leave it… but I really think the fact it isn’t a fluke repetition is a wakeup call. This is not the last. We are in the midst of global weirding. Even if you want to deny it.

Of course, who wants to think about that when your nose starts dripping because it is colder inside than it is outside? When a whole freezer full of food has to go in the trash? When the only way to connect to the world is through Facebook on a phone you charge by driving around the neighborhood?

Okay, that last bit is absurd. But… come on, it is absurd that people are complaining about no power with their phone on a social network. It’s also useful… and allows a collective support… I suppose. But… I think it’s also distracting from the reality of the matter.

Interspersed with those frustrations are many declarations of purchasing a generator. I suppose if one wanted to go into business, gas powered generators are an opportunity. But… that’s kind of sick and twisted. Absurd, in my mind, like the driving around in the car to get to Facebook land. Because, um… gas produces exhaust which produces Demeter’s pissy temper tantrum. Maybe… maybe we should accept some humility right now and say, okay, what can we do to fix it? Not make the problem worse.

One of the gazillion inspirations floating around in my head these days is buying a house. I don’t know how realistic that is. I don’t know how unrealistic it is. But as I contemplate that, I tell myself I HAVE to, absolutely HAVE to work in the cost of solar power. I know it is a big cost… but as I look at the region and I look at the inevitability of these power outages, I don’t know how I can be stupid enough to not consider it.

I just don’t know why when all this is happening I’m the only one I hear asking the question.