InSpiritry

“Poverty, Violence, War, Earthquakes, Floods…all reasons families are forced to live in Third World conditions.”

Last night, a line of dangerous summer thunderstorms raced across North Texas, full of sky-splitting lightning strikes, damaging winds, tornados, heavy rain and hail. As our huge, old trees heaved in the gusts and thunder rattled our windows, we heard a high pitched POP! and then total silence. Lights, fans, clocks, refrigerators all clicked off. Lightning had struck the transformer out on the road; the electricity was off. For the rest of the night, my husband and I were jostled every few hours by limbs falling outside and heavy downpours, but no real damage.

This morning, we awoke to the unnerving reality of getting ready for the day without electricity. Shaving for him and putting on makeup for me were interesting at best. We had to use a flashlight to find clothes in the closet. I couldn’t check emails or listen to NPR. He couldn’t watch the financial news. No coffee may have been the biggest shock. Waiting for the power company to come, I tried stay busy, but I couldn’t wash clothes or dishes. I couldn’t vacuum. I finally decided to try to revise poems and make notes in the dim, rainy light and humid, stuffy air; it was less than comfortable. By the time, mid morning came, I was ready to move operations elsewhere.

Happily, pretty soon the SWEPCO truck arrived and within minutes the workman had fixed the problem. When I went out to thank him, he looked tired and said he had been working since 11 pm the night before. That’s when I realized the blessing of living in a place where we can depend on simple but essential things like power, water, gas, postal delivery, safety and comfort. I had only been without electricity for a few hours, but around the world (and in our own towns) millions of families don’t have basic services for months at a time because of poverty, violence, persecution, political upheaval, weather and natural disasters. We see them on television and hear about them on the news, but for most of us, they are literally a world away.

Thank goodness for groups like CARE, the Red Cross, the ONE Campaign, PLAN International, the United Nations and Engineers Without Borders along with the many governments and peace organizations working for better conditions for all peoples. They continue to need our financial support. Find more of these peacework organizations on my InSpiritry Links Page.

Today, give some thought to the everyday blessings of orderly society that you enjoy. Think for a minute about how much you depend on that. Realize, without electricity and our other services, how much you would suddenly have in common with people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, North Korea and other ravaged parts of the globe. Imagine yourself as one of them. That kind of empathy is what leads us to a Passion for the Greater Good!

InSpiritry Question for the Day:  What do you miss the most when you don’t have electricity?

When We Feel Empathy for Others, We Can Be a Blessing!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 11:34 am and is filed under America, World, Greater Good Thinking, Compassion, Weather, Poverty, Mission, Community, Greater Good, Peacework, InSpiritry, Anne McCrady, War, Social Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.