After the storm

And with a click, it all came back on.

This time, BGE was prepared (thanks to the weather forecasters, the PSC and our elected officials pressuring them and enabling them to do better).

This time, we lost power for only 18 hours, unlike the last two storms when we lost power for 7 days - both times.

But what is astonishing to feel is how fragile this society is. We live by the click. We know it, intellectually, but we feel it in such storms. The time difference between that click when everything goes off and everything comes back on is millennial.

We become our ancestors, cast back into an era before the miracle of modern energy.

One estimate tells us that 1 barrel oil equals 25,000 hours of human labor or 12.5 years at 40 hours per week.

Only we are not as proficient as our ancestors in trimming candles or drawing water or cooking with fire. We are spread too far apart from each other, food sources, water sources, etc.

We no longer can remember how to entertain ourselves in the darkening hours of the day, or sit in faith with no knowledge of how our loved ones are doing.

We have gained so much with cheap energy. We cannot imagine doing without, or with having to pay too much for more.

Our 21st century challenge, for ourselves and our children, is to create a robust energy system that answers our most critical needs - physically, emotionally, economically, spiritually, culturally - without waste or greed.

This means change, perhaps radical change, and will require both technological advances, and spiritual exploration. And as scary and in some ways as difficult as that might be (think child-birth!), the thing is, we will be better off for the change.

I hope and pray that you all weathered the storm well with little to no water or structural damage, and no great upset if you lost your power (and I hope that it is back!).