Assisted Procrastination

As I drove home from work last night, I noticed it became progressively darker on the streets as I approached my neighborhood. It took me reaching a local traffic light to realize the power was out. Not just the power in certain areas, but the power in my town and at least 2 neighboring towns. This quickly turned streets into mass pandimonium. Apparently, street lights are one of the few things providing the structure of society.

This brings me to my amazement of the power of a habit. How easy they are to develop, their “stick-to-itiveness,” and how difficult they can be to break even with the strongest of will power. Unfortunately, even I am no match for the compulsion to flip a light switch in the pitch-dark hallway when looking for candles to light the house during a power outage. At that moment, I fully recognized that there was no electricity in the entirety of the 3+ city block, let alone any room in my house. Yet, I still went into the hall closet in search of CANDLES to illuminate the house and was still compelled to flip the switch.

In the end, all I can say is that it was really bright throughout the house when the power returned little over an hour later. Now I need only deal with my daughter’s compulsion to ensure all the clocks are set instead of flashing incessantly. Must EVERYTHING come with a clock? The next house needs to include a comprehensive clock reset mechanism.