more icy thoughts

I'm not sure how it's come to this, that a smattering of freezing rain = "only" 150,000 homes without electricity = normal. You'd have to ask the folks at Ameren, the best Third World power provider around, to see how they explain why interruptions that were once rare and measured in minutes are now frequent and measured in days. Would they say this shift in service is just a coincidence? Perhaps they'd claim my dissatisfaction is but further evidence of my weak character. Never knowing if our homes will remain illuminated when faced with little more than a good stiff breeze? That's not a flaw in the system but a feature: a bonus character building experience, an opportunity to remember to Not Take Things for Granted. Watch there be a line item for it on their next inflated bill.

Taking things for granted, of course, is supposed to be the bad habit that we universally resolve to break every time something dramatic or inspiring or panic-inducing happens either to us or to someone on the 6 o'clock news. Do I deny that a mindful life is the one that's worth living? Hardly. To overlook the wonder of it all because one is distracted by minutia that won't matter even days from now is indeed a common shame.

But why not also remember that a person who truly takes nothing for granted is a person paralyzed. There is a such thing as too much information, and not just when it comes to the underwear habits of Britney Spears. Life, it seems to me, requires a certain amount of obliviousness, the tiniest touch of denial, the occasional instance of making an ass out of U and ME, just to move from day to day. To think about everything all the time? Overwhelming. Counterproductive. Instead, I'm learning to tuck some thoughts into my heart where they'll be safe from my own scrutiny. I know they're there. I know they're important. And I know there's no need to constantly reconsider, analyze, or judge. Could it look as if I just don't care? Perhaps. But appearances are deceiving.

As for my electricity, yes! I'd really like to be able to take it for granted again. So far, this is still a First World country, and I'd like to enjoy the perks. But the fact that I keep harping on my incandescent aggravation, that I can't just let it go, just shows that, in the scheme of things, it really doesn't rate. If the status of the electrical grid topped my list of values, I'd never bring it up.