We've been getting some severe storms here in the Midwest recently. Just last night, a thunderstorm blew through that knocked out the power. Not just to our house, but to a good-sized portion of the city. It can be annoying when the power goes out during the day. It becomes both bothersome and unnerving during the night. But to look outside and see nothing but darkness - no other houses lit up, no streetlights - it feels like something out of a horror movie.
It's instinctive to fear the dark. Various dangerous predators hunt at night. Humans rely predominantly on eyesight for gathering information on their surroundings, and it is much more difficult to see if the lighting is poor (or nonexistent). However, in this case, there was also the matter of control. We have fashioned artificial sources of light so that we are no longer bound to daylight exclusively. With the loss of electrical power, we also lost power over our circumstances.
The power goes out; suddenly, the list of options that can be taken becomes much shorter. It is made worse by the fact that it is so widespread; this is beyond my ability to do anything in particular. The only viable option is to wait for the power to come back on. How long will that take? A few minutes, hours, days, never? Although daylight is once more upon us, I am able to do little else besides wait.
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