A miracle
A couple of days ago, my car thermometer showed -34 C when I was on my way to pick up some fresh groceries. This is very cold even for someone like me and should be treated with respect. A car breakdown in the middle of nowhere can be dangerous. I was driving in my snowmobile clothes, with an extra jacket in the back, just in case. Nothing dramatic happened. While driving in my air-conditioned home cinema on four wheels in weather conditions that start to resemble another planet, I couldn’t stop thinking about how unbelievably grateful I am for pretty much everything. The planet does its best to kill me every single day, especially so during the insane cold, and still, I can go about my day without issues, in comfort that kings of the past could not even dream about. Honestly, it is a miracle that anything works at all. And not only that, but it also works really well too, for the most part. This is clearly something to be grateful for.
At home, I had running water, electricity, good food in the refrigerator and more than enough comforts than I need. The only issue I had during this cold blitz was that the water supply froze in my office building, even though I had an electrical heater cable installed. Unfortunately, it was not dug deep enough when it was installed long ago. The main house on the other hand showed no problems at all. When living in the countryside like we do, we are usually reminded several times per year of how vulnerable we are. And that is one of the best things about living the way we do. Exposed to the elements in the same way as riding a motorcycle. There’s no way around it. When you experience deeper valleys in life, like -34 degrees several days in a row, or close to hurricane strength winds that flips over ten trees close to your house and throw you to the ground, or when the ocean rises so high that you can stand on the bottom step of the stairs and dip the toes in the Baltic sea, it is simply a fact that you will enjoy the good days more. When you are cut off with no power, no telephone service, waist deep snow and trees that have fallen over the only road, you feel more alive. I like it and I am very grateful for the perspective it gives me to go completely off the grid occasionally.
I sometimes reflect that what we have now is a unique situation. Everything is so good here that it is quite difficult to imagine something else. But make no mistake. Civilization as we know it is but a thin veneer. If the water supply and electricity go down permanently, my guess is that we might have anarchy in two weeks if the conditions are right. When everything is delivered just in time, the whole system becomes very vulnerable to any disruption. Just imagine what would happen if the food shelves were ransacked for more than two weeks. What effect could that have on people´s priorities? Praying for the best and preparing for the worst is perhaps a wise approach. But even if you should go into full prepper mode or just carry on as usual, I still think it is wise to remember to be grateful for the wonderful systems we have that keep us warm, clean, and never hungry or thirsty. It is without a doubt a miracle.
On a dog walk, a couple of hundred meters into the forest from where I live, I found an old house foundation some years ago, with a sign that read that a forester lived here with his family for around 50 years. I can’t remember exactly but I think it was five or seven kids, between the years 1847-1900. The house had two rooms and looked similar in size to a student apartment. I am pretty sure that they also had a couple of harsh winters out there during the half century they spent there. But they probably did not have electricity or running water either. And somehow, they made it. Mindboggling to say the least. The contrast reminds me of a night in Delhi at a five-star hotel with armed guards, with people living in a cardboard box on the other side of the wall. You can find similar contrasts in Sweden today, but only if you pick a reference point 150-200 years ago.
It is never wise to take things for granted.