Electricity

If you read yesterday's post, no doubt you were impressed by my serenity even when surrounded by small boys hitting each other with bright pink plastic flamingos. "Wow," you probably thought, "this woman is unflappable! What does it take to upset her?"

I'm sure you really didn't think that. But in case you're wondering what does upset me, I'll tell you. It doesn't take much. Last night I had an experience which never fails to frustrate and annoy me. The power came on in our neighborhood, but not at our house. The streetlight across the street glowed cheerily in our window, but our water pump didn't come on. We had no electricity.

Any illusions I might have of being a person of any depth is always instantly dispelled by these moments. Immediately I freak out. No power? What? Two hours a day, and we're not getting it?

Right away I tried to call the electric company. When I picked up the phone, it sounded normal, but when I dialed I got a recording that said the phone company had switched our phone off for non-payment.

Non-payment? I freaked out further. Just last week we paid a phone bill with an alarming number of zeros on it. Those weren't US dollars, but still. It was a big number. And we have a receipt to prove it!

I've gone on and on in this blog about utilities and the lack thereof. In April, I mentioned not eating toast due to hardly ever having electricity at breakfast time. In May, I posted this article about electricity in Delhi, and compared the situation in Tecwil. In June, while we were in the States, the electric company came and cut us off, in spite of our having paid in advance. I also exulted about being able to do laundry all the time in the States because the power's always on, and mentioned, too, that during during World Cup time we always get plenty of electricity. In July I commiserated with people around the United States whose power was out. And earlier this month, I ranted on at length about utilities in general.

You get the picture. Electricity is something I think about a lot. And I don't think about it nearly as much as I used to. When we first moved to Tecwil, I used to keep a calendar of how many hours we got every day. But I'm trying to be a less obsessive person, so I stopped doing that.

In the scheme of things, it's very much not a big deal that my power is disconnected. We have a generator which we fill with gas at $4 per gallon. We really will be OK. Even the telephone is not the end of the world. But still, it irritates me.

When I was in high school, we had a dorm mother who used to try to cheer us up by making us feel guilty about people in the world who were less fortunate. I remember a speech she made once about Vietnamese boat people (the boat people who were in the news at the time) and how they were crammed in non-seaworthy boats and facing hardship and misery, and here we were, selfish, spoiled kids with plenty to eat and...well, I pretty much tuned out at that point. I don't find that method works too well to cheer me up. Because then, not only do I feel frustrated about whatever is going wrong, but I also feel guilty for being so selfish and spoiled.

So here's what I try to do instead. First I gripe a little bit. No, this isn't as bad as what many other people are going through today, but yes, it does annoy me and I don't know that it does anybody any good for me to pretend otherwise. I try to keep my complaining to just a few people, like my long-suffering husband and, well, whoever is reading this. Then I try to deal with it and move on with life. For whatever reason, this is what I'm dealing with today. No doubt God can use it for good. He can make me more patient and less focused on what I don't have. Less selfish and spoiled.

At least I hope so. And I hope He does it quickly, so that we can get the lights back on.