Today’s unexpected wisdom comes from NextDoor, of all places.
Question: Why are there so many people complaining on this forum, if it’s not about kids, it’s about who’s riding bicycles down lanes, geez people lighten up. Life is good.
Response: I discovered long ago that some people aren't happy unless they have something to be upset about. I feel sorry for those people.
If you have ever spent more than five minutes on NextDoor you will know how rare a sentiment this is.
I’m not saying there aren’t reasons to be concerned about local issues or that we should all strive to be Pollyannas at all times. And, to be honest, sometimes it can be a relief - - or even fun! - - to give oneself permission to carp or whine a bit.
But NextDoor is truly the home of every small and unimportant complaint. Some days there is nothing else to see there. Apparently their original slogan was “When neighbors get talking, good things happen.”
Au contraire. When neighbors get talking, they are criticizing the length of your grass, your noisy kids who are up to no good, the (Black) man who walked down the street looking around, people who feed the birds, dogs who pee on flower pots, and how nothing in Columbia/HoCo is as good as it used to be.
It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
So, in honor of the brave poster who suggested that people lighten up and realize life is good, I have a few observations.
Yesterday afternoon our power went out. I was not so keen on this, as you might imagine. It certainly gave me time to reflect on how dependent I am on electricity. I also marveled at the quiet. At this time of year the inside of my house is filled with the sounds of a dehumidifier, an air purifier, and air conditioning. They are all necessary but it’s a continual blowing sound.
The house was so still. I didn’t realize how loud the blowing was until it went away.
Of course in all that stillness I began to worry about things like the house gradually getting hotter, whether the food in the refrigerator would spoil, or whether I’d be able to cook dinner. What if the power on my phone ran down? Just when my stress was kicking up to the next level my husband arrived home from work and asked if I was up for a trip to Rita’s for ice cream.
I was.
This may sound like an odd thing to be happy about, but: yesterday our power went out and it came back on again.
It was out for about two hours and then - - poof! - - it came back on again. BGE had estimated a return of service by 6:30 or 7 pm. They were well ahead of that. It was back in time for me to cook dinner! (Not sure how grateful I was about that in real time.)
I don’t often think about what has to happen on the other end during a power outage. There are real human beings whose job it is to troubleshoot, assess damage, organize work crews, make repairs. When was the last time anyone went on NextDoor and made a big deal out of the people who make that happen? Perhaps after a major storm event when folks are talking of little else. Not for an everyday outage.
We’re just irked that the power is out.
There are places in the world where electricity is unreliable and the power grid is fragile. Here in Columbia/HoCo we don’t think much about that. We don’t have to.
Yesterday my power went out and it came back on. That’s my good news for the day. How about you?
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