Electricity To Burn?

I was drenched in sweat, laboring away at the Eliptical at my gym last night, while at the same time, via the local news, bearing witness to the awful flooding in the TriState area, courtesy of x amount of inches of rain brought on by Irene. Main streets and side streets equally inundated with water that had nowhere to go, and power turned off as a consequence. Or, elsewhere, in parts of Long Island, simply no power, period.

After my hour of cardio on an electricity-powered machine - one of about, oh, twenty - I descended into the locker room, where I was jumped by a wall of noise caused by two flatscreen TVs blaring at full volume and second rate hiphop, pumped through the gym-wide sound system. And then the sheer wastefulness of this - apparently completely normal - way of doing things without regard for the consequences hit me. I know, I know. Small peanuts. A couple of TVs and a sound system - so what? But do they really have to be on AT THE SAME TIME? SET TO DIFFERENT CHANNELS? And I know that my wimpy efforts at conserving energy in Manhattan will very likely not help anybody in New Jersey get their power back. But it shaves a sliver off of my guilt at living in such overflowing abundance, when, just across the river, whole towns are left in the dark for yet anther night.

Comments

  1. Elisabeth,, The way you felt about the waste in the locker room is how i feel about the waste in the whole world. So much waste and greed,people get a little ant they want more.It is all about money & power if you have either it gets you respect? or what you think is respect.Always keep that in front of you no matter how successful you become. It is who you are and you can;t change this. No one should go without while the selfish and self-centered of this world lavish themselves in what they think makes them better.

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