Lessons From a Power Outage

Hurricane Sandy slammed into the East Coast several weeks ago, leaving in its wake massive destruction and widespread power outages.  An unfortunate mix of ice storms on top of trees that still had not lost their fall leaves caused the trees to fall on power lines, homes, and cars.  The flooding that lasted for over a week also further delayed getting power restored to millions of people trying to keep warm as the chilly November temperatures continued to fall.  Power crews from as far south as Florida raced up the coast to assist their fellow Americans in need.  The whole event created a sense of deja vu from only seven years before when we watched at the city of New Orleans disappeared under a wall of water.

In Virginia, Sandy's impact was far less than anticipated, so it is with complete shame that I reflect on my own panic when our electricity faltered for a few short hours.  My family of four went into a state of paralysis for the outage. We were totally inoperable. Pretzels for dinner, staring at each other in the semi-dark, we were pretty pathetic. I often forget how reliant I am on the power and technology I take for granted- these infrequent outages send me humbling reminders of this Achille's heel of mine.  I would venture to say that the loss of power and technology is crippling on a national level as well as evidenced by the shut-down of Wall Street and cancellation of the New York marathon.

Even in the midst of all of the heartache and subversion, I did watch some incredible uses of technology  in the aftermath of Sandy.  On my social media accounts, I saw countless posts raising funds, collecting donations, and even setting up carpools to personally assist the people who were suffering the most.  I saw virtual "check-ins" from people trying to be sure other loved ones were ok, but did not have the means to make phone calls (I even set up my own in my East Coast Coaches group on My Big Campus to find out how we could support each other and how everyone was faring). Craig's List filled with people willing to part with generators and wet/dry vacuums knowing that the demand far exceeded the supply on the East Coast.

Some say that social media is destroying the fabric of our society, but I would counter that sentiment by examples of what I saw first hand just this month.  Social media will never replace face-to-face interactions, nor can it break the spirit of humanity that is instilled in each of us.  Social media helps connect us and gives us a venue to reach out to people that otherwise would be beyond our scope.  The people of New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, and more have certainly felt the benefits of this social media outreach.