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Power outtage

Some months back, in this column, I asked the question, “How good were the good old days?” I asked that question of my husband a couple of weeks ago when our house was cold and dark, my oven would not work, I could not run water to wash my hands, and I could not flush the stool.

Like many of you, our electricity went out around 11am the day before Thanksgiving. Unlike many of you, we had ours’ back on by 8pm that night. Heavy, wet snow accompanied by strong wind gusts, wreaked havoc across the midwest. My parents did not have electricity back on their farm until Friday evening.

Although we were not completely unprepared for such an event, we certainly were not ready for it. You cannot truly be ready for such an event unless you have a back-up generator. We had plenty of batteries, flashlights, kerosene heaters, kerosene, blankets, and the other essentials needed to stay warm during a power outage. Unfortunately, these essentials were not all together in one easy-to-find location.

Sitting in the barn office on that Wednesday evening, we celebrated life in 2004. 70 years ago, electricity had not made it’s debut in the area of rural Missouri that we now call home. Not only could the people who lived here not flush the toilet, they had to go outside to use it.

There are a lot of things about the world today that I would like to change. If you’ve read my columns in the past, you know that I think most people are in too much of a hurry and do not have the respect for one another that they should. I believe much of that attitude comes from our need for immediate gratification. Our parents wanted us to have more than they had, as their parents had wanted more for their children. You cannot fault them or blame progress, but it does us all good to do without the amenities that we enjoy in our “modern life” if for just a short time.

Video games, instant messaging, drive-thru fast food restaurants, pay-at-the-pump gas stations, and microwaveable pot roasts for the family are all representative of the lives we live today. Not so many years ago, instead of video games, it would have been checkers or a rousing game of baseball that kept our mind in shape. Instead of instant messaging, a walk, run or bicycle ride over to the neighbor’s would satisfy the need. Fast food would be an apple picked from a tree in the back yard. Gas stations offered full service. You knew the man who pumped your gas. You knew his wife, his kids, the name of his dog, where he lived, what kind of car or truck he drove and his nickname and why he had it.

Pot roasts were not a quick-fix, but a treat for the eyes and nose as well as the taste buds. Eating the pot roast was a family event, because everyone would sit down at the table together and enjoy the meal and one another. There were not 5 different meal times for 5 different family members.

Technology has transformed the world we live in, a process accelerating all the time. There are things about yesteryear that were simple, more peaceful, and overall better than they are today. However, as soybean rust moves into this country, it is good to know that many years of scientific research and development have been invested, creating the fungicides that will keep the disease from destroying the soybean crop, should rust spread into our farm fields in 2005.

Perhaps it would do us all good to spend a couple of hours each Thanksgiving to reflect upon where we have been and where we are going. It might make us appreciate both now and then.