Age of Enlightenment

Finally, the dark age is over.

I was beginning to be really depressed as I read a book using a candle, when the main light in our staircase area switched on.

Yes! After three days of almost city-wide blackout, we are finally overcoming the effect of typhoon Milenyo. Together with uprooted big trees, toppled electrical posts and billboards, the darkness completed the eerie atmosphere that has befallen over the city. Many of us wondered when will the gods give back again the gift of light (hahaha, how poetic), and most have accepted more dark nights upon hearing the news that even our main power supplier is still having problems. Some just went to the malls to cool themselves and have another drink of cold water. A few checked in to hotels. A good part of the population went over to the Coliseum to watch the much-awaited Game 2 between UST and the Ateneo. Another good part just went to sports bars to watch the game. Hehehe.

Kidding aside, in this dark age that I call, I learned some things, one of which is that without electricity, there is time for family bonding. Seriously, so many gadgets have kept some families (including mine) from spending time together, espcially after dinner. But the other night, as we were stripped off our computers, own TVs, and play stations, over candlelight we were singing together as my brother played his guitar (our family loves music). From there we started reminiscing about the past hits, who's generation has this genre, and what songs we loved to sing back then. Of course I was the one that was teased the most, since my love for music and singing was known eversince I began singing Rainbow connection at the age of 1 1/2. My sister re-enacted the way I sang and danced to the song of Kylie Minogue (yeah, the really old hits of Kylie), told my brothers the time in the province when there are town festivities and people invite me to sing to the crowd (Yes, the Madonna days). Apparently, people found it cute that a young girl like me sings La Isla Bonita, complete with perfect Spanish lyrics. And of course, my brothers couldn't believe it. Haha!

Another thing I learned from the dark nights is that we are so caught up with our gadgets that we fail to appreciate nature. No matter how polluted city air is, for some reason, the air was cool. I don't know if this was because of the typhoon or if people just parked their vehicles and stayed at home, but the air felt fresh.The sky was clear as well, and I could see more stars than usual (yep, in our village we still see those precious stars).

This experience also made me think about how dependent we have become on our own achievements and inventions. Earlier, I said I was beginning to be depressed, not only because of the seemingly sorry state I was in, but also because I missed my usual doses of electricity-is-needed activities. In felt that my day wasn't complete without me watching my favorite soap, CSI, Lifestyle Network, and featured films. I felt uncertain when it came to the numbered minutes of my mobile phone before it runs out of battery. But on the other side, I also appreciated how far we've come. Certainly our great ancestors never thought we would have achieved such technological advances, which is awesome really, except that these advances are also abused and put to use to the detriment of humanity.

Whew... that was some reflection. Hahaha.

But anyway, I am glad that there is electricity again. Now we can go back to our busy lifestyle. But honestly, I will keep these thoughts and my experiences with me. So the next time there will be another blackout, these are what I will tell over my own family bonding.