Relative Something

How about an Andy Rooney ‘have you ever noticed’ moment? Have you ever noticed… that what really matters to you can vary wildly, depending on the setting? For the most part, if we don’t think about something, it doesn’t bother us. It aligns well with the, “out of sight, out of mind” concept.

I could mention a few examples, but then that would get you worked up about something that you were just fine with a moment ago, because you weren’t thinking about it. Maybe if I describe something related, it will serve just as well.

Yesterday morning, in the pre-dawn dullness, I awoke with a need to pee, only to discover that the electricity had gone out. This is a sure recipe for oversleeping in my world. So, I searched out my cell phone to check the time and, lo and behold, it was almost time to get up anyway. I crawled back under the blankets, but I knew not to let myself fall back into a deep sleep. Then the power came on. That gave me a chance to reset the clock and, with the alarm as safety, I could sack out for another 20 minutes.

Except the power went off right away again. As I lay there knowing I shouldn’t sleep, I considered my options, most of which had become non-options due to their requirements for electric power. At a moment like this, you become aware of how much our current lifestyle is dependent upon electricity. I wondered how widespread the outage might be. Would there be power at my workplace? What if the whole city, or the whole state, were without power. What a major news story that would be!

However, what if it was just my block? How much of a non-event is that? Well, it is completely a non-event to those of you who don’t even know it happened. I bet it didn’t bother you one bit.