Bubbles and Blue Northers

 

I grew up in North Texas.  I can remember the old folks talking about blue northers.  Back then they didn’t have as much advanced notice as we enjoy (and mostly ignore) these days.  But, they were prepared.   In the middle of winter, they understood that a big freeze was always possible.  Maybe it would just be in the 20’s for a couple of days or it might get into single digits and stay below freezing for a week or more.  Animals had to be protected.  Pipes to be covered and faucets left dripping.  Well-houses kept warm by whatever means including buckets of hot coals.  People hunkered down, had candles and kerosene lanterns for light and wood in the stove to keep warm.  Food down in the cellar and meat in the smokehouse.  Extreme weather was just part of life.  Cold and heat, wet and dry, wind and hail, birth and death…seasons and the circle of life.

These days we do our best to avoid the effects of weather.  And we do it pretty well most of the time.  Climate controlled homes, water at your finger tips, hot in an instant if you choose and it will stay hot as long as you wish.  Ice with the push of a button, crushed or cubed as you like it.  Freezers and refrigerators full of food.  Microwaves, air-fryers, convection ovens and cook tops standing by.  And when our bodies are done with whatever we consume, we don’t even have to go outside to relieve ourselves.  Even those bodily functions have been made convenient and comfortable.

Life is easy for us, until it’s not.  And when that rare extreme weather event occurs we are exposed.  When the power goes off, our bubbles burst.  And we realize that we are weak and vulnerable.  Not only vulnerable to the forces of nature, but to the decisions of those whom we have paid to maintain our bubbles.   We find that we are not prepared because we have not made them prepare.  We discover that cheaper is not always better and managing risk is not just a matter of probabilities and cost-benefit analysis.

We Texans love to tout our independent spirit, forged on the frontier, blood and soil, a whole other country, come and take it…and so on.  But, in fact, we are just citizens of the modern world.  A world that keeps us fat, dumb and happy most of the time.  When it fails us and our bubbles burst, we look for someone to blame.  There is no one there to blame but ourselves.  This is the life we have chosen.  And we are not prepared nor can we afford to give it up, even for a short period of time.  So we will spend billions and restore our bubbles.  Then we will spend some more to repay insurance companies and upgrade our bubble maintenance systems.  And we will forget about all of it…until the next time our bubbles break.

“But it was alright, everything was alright, the struggle was finished.  He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.”  George Orwell, 1984