Posted by This afternoon and evening, Pittsburgh experienced an extended blackout due to high winds and rains. (I say extended blackout in the western sense because it lasted less than 4 hours). It was rare for us to have blackouts in Nigeria but we did have them. In Bangladesh, blackouts aren’t uncommon though that may depend on what part of Dhaka or the country in which you live. So I’m relatively experienced in them.
A couple weekends ago, I went to see the movie adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. It’s an emotionally draining movie; one that is true to the book’s vision, according to my sisters and the Ezdaa. In short, it’s an end-times movie about how a man and his son try to survive against marauding gangs, cannibals and an environment gone crazy. Needless to say, it left an impression.
Back to the blackout – despite having been through many in the past, I can’t say that my reaction to this was one was all that good. No panic but I definitely felt unsettled, sitting in a slowly growing cold living room, listening to the wind whip all around the house. It felt, in some sense, like the beginning of The Road. That I have recently had ACL Reconstruction and couldn’t even begin to survive as in the movie/book did not help.
It’s one thing to wean one’s self off too much techmology but basic electricity is quite another. Most people can unplug for a short period if they’re on vacation. Being forced to unplug as in a blackout is a different story in and of itself because you are robbed of control.
Still, I’m going to try an experiment. I’m going to institute a short blackout period for myself every evening. No power, TV, computer, internet, etc. Candles and flashlights only. I’ll start out at 15 minutes and slowly increase with time. I’m not trying to be a luddite. But forcing an unplug, I think, will help me to learn calmness, appreciate silence (well, such as it can be) and maybe develop an appreciation for really doing nothing.
Photocredit: Silence III by foart
