Sometimes a power outage is just a power outage. But other times it can feel symbolic. WFAE’s Tommy Tomlinson, in his "On My Mind" commentary, spent some time recently pondering that in the dark.
The power went out at our house the other night.
I happened to be awake. It was 2:45 in the morning. It was dark all up and down the street, the kind of dark you almost never get in the city.
The worst thing about the power going out, especially in the middle of the night, is the uncertainty. You don’t know if it will soon be stifling in the house, or if the food in the refrigerator will spoil. It is an unnerving thing, to be powerless.
It doesn’t take long to wonder when things will be normal again.
But there are remedies for these long black nights.
The author E.L. Doctorow once said that writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights. But you can make the whole trip that way.
You probably have a flashlight stashed away for moments just like this one. Or maybe a candle and some matches. Even the light on your phone will do. Just something to help you see a step or two ahead. That’s all you need, a step or two.
It helps to check on the ones you care about. Poke your head in down the hall to make sure everybody else is OK. See if they need something to cool them down or soothe their fears.
And it’s useful to remember that we have all been powerless before, or at least felt that way. There have been dark nights longer than this one. Some of them have been terrifying. But in the end, the sun always comes. The light is undefeated. It is just a matter of sticking together and hanging on.
The workers climbing poles and stringing wires have something to do with it. But the real power comes from us.
I laid back down in the dark the other night and clicked on a lamp to let me know when the power came back. I’m not going to lie, it was a restless night. But a few hours later I woke up to the lamplight burning. We made it through another one. Darkness never wins.
Tommy Tomlinson’s On My Mind column runs Mondays on WFAE and WFAE.org. It represents his opinion, not the opinion of WFAE. You can respond to this column in the comments section below. You can also email Tommy at [email protected].
