Last week, I went three days with no electricity. Watching Netflix on my big screen became a fading memory, beads of sweat formed on my brow without AC, and who knew you could cook without a microwave?
Now I know what it’s like being an early American settler or living in a third-world country. I’ve been hardened into a man with intestinal fortitude. Or am I just one of the many living a privileged first-world life, complaining of minor disruptions in a pampered existence?
What Pittsburgh just experienced is a very minuscule taste of possible things to come. America’s power grid system is in abysmal shape, and Congress has been ignoring efforts to update and secure this vital infrastructure for decades.
Our national power grid is completely vulnerable to natural disasters, terrorist attacks, an electromagnetic pulse or failing infrastructure. If one of these things occurs, it will not be three to seven days without electricity; some experts estimate six months to a year. Then you will see the true nature of your fellow man revealed. And history shows that it won’t be a pretty sight.
Contact your politicians on all levels and demand that they strengthen and secure the U.S. power grid now. Don’t be left in the dark.
Steven Crichley
Carrick