By Kohar Bayizian
The blackout of 2003 brought out a lot of different feelings including fear, confusion, frustration, and excitement.
Knocking out power from New York to Cleveland to Detroit, the blackout left a lot of people with absolutely nothing to do but wait. True, the first priority was just getting back home from stalled subway cars or elevators over miles of bridges and hot summer streets.
There were a lot of aching feet that night. At home, many gathered around battery-operated radios listening and hoping for answers, some ran out to drugstores and bought flashlights as well as water, and others just got out of their lawn chairs, sat back and watched the frenzy. But not many realized that they were part of a special moment in American life — a time that will be talked about and remembered for decades.
We have become so dependent on electricity that it seems as though it would be impossible to live without it. We forget that not too long ago people lived by candlelight, used horses as a means of transportation, worked hard in the summer months without the benefit of air conditioning, and could not store food in an ice cold refrigerator.
We forget that there are countries and civilizations that co-exist with our own that do not have lights or running water, which are under gruesome dictatorships and can only dream of a life somewhat like ours. There were news reports that some Iraqis were happy to see Americans get a taste of what it was like to have no lights or water.
It just goes to show that we should never take anything for granted, most of all things that we forget are privileges, such as electricity.
Maybe we can look at the blackout as a chance for everyone to take a break from life, which at times can certainly seem like a rat race. Let’s face it, without the TV, the telephone (only the old-fashioned wall phones worked reliably), and the computer, families had a chance to bond.
When the lights went out, the things that are really important to us were still shining, such as family and friends and just being safe and being together.
