No-power hour

Our nation just celebrated its 227th year. Wow. Think about all the huge, enormous, mind-boggling accomplishments and feats that have been achieved in that time block. One major advancement? The evolution of electricity. \nI was in my hometown for the holiday weekend and we were clobbered with storms, sadly canceling the fireworks showcase for not one but two successive nights. Mother Nature also decided to take out a few power lines with her, completely impoverishing my convenient and modern life. \nOur loss of power sidelined my Internet surfing, word processing and e-mailing from my energy-deprived home.\nI couldn't shower, make a cup of coffee, flush the toilet or check the news. How pathetic.\nNo electricity means no running water, no refrigeration, no microwaves, no computers, no television, no stereos, no washing machines, no blow-dryers … you get the idea.\nWhat in the world did Americans manage to do 227 years ago? What do the Amish do now? I just don't understand. We are an almighty, powerful nation, but take away our Internet, TV and power utilities and we fold into spineless nothings who complain like four-year-olds. Folk singer Ani Difranco so truly sings, "Take away our Playstations and we are a third world nation."\nLooking back into history, the electrical progression quickly took off after the invention of the Leyden jar in 1745 by Pieter van Musschenbroek. The device stored static electricity, and could be discharged all at once. This caused interest in electrical current and led to the invention of the battery around 1786, which paved the way for Ohm's law -- relating current, voltage and resistance, published in 1827 -- whatever any of that means.\nBut, it did equate into the rough development of an electric motor, later giving way to a generator, and the first power stations were built some 60 years later.\nCongress did not pass the Rural Electrification Act until 1936, spreading electrical power throughout the United States countryside. But since those way back days, we have become absolutely dependent upon everything modern and sustained by electrical current. Remember when you were a kid and wanted to be a pioneer or a cowboy, traveling by horse and covered wagon? Are we less creative and imaginative these days, or do we just want our MTV? Are we truly these sad creatures, helpless without running water and light bulbs?\nHmm, pretty much.\nIf some pioneer or cowboy who churned butter, hand-washed clothes, cooked by the open fire and read by candlelight had suddenly been given the gift of power, they would have thought they'd died and gone to heaven. Ha, if they saw a television, it would be over. Some channel is always airing westerns, "Bonanza" or "Little House on the Prairie." I bet some of them would even get a kick out of "The Osbournes." \n It's one thing to live your whole life without something, and keep on doing so, then to have something so convenient and necessary for modern living taken away from you without notice. That's my excuse anyway. \nJust like the pre-historic being evolved into today's human, people in the U.S. have evolved into a totally electricity-dependent society. It's how we have been brought up. This is a little depressing, reflecting upon the old days of the West -- the days of adventure and exploring -- but as the cable channel westerns prove, we still have a little of that. If only novel now, at least there's still that fascination with things of old and our natural desire for simplicity.