Luddites unite!
Or at least McLuhanites. A few months ago I was hanging out with some friends. We were doing what we often do: watching some banal TV show. I’ve occasionally suggested there are better things we could be doing, but that’s usually met with “what channel?” So I’ve largely given up.
This one particular night it was The Bachelorette. Again, I hate the show but like my friends, so I go along with it. The power flickered. We looked at the lamp. Then it was black. Thirty seconds later it was still black. We went outside and realized it was a beautiful, cool summer night. A moon, plenty of stars, and no street lights. By now all the neighbors were coming out, wondering how far the outage spread. I had never met some of them.
After walking up and down several streets, we realized the whole town was out. Returning to the apartment, we lit some candles. The silence was filled with talk and laughter at stupid anecdotes from our day. We played a game that’s a cross between Telephone and Pictionary. It was best evening we’d had in a very long time. Then the power came back and it was all over.
It would do us well as a culture to lose power 3 or 4 nights a week.