Today's MOZEN: Privilege

F LoBuono

Let’s face it. Most of the people that I know live lives of privilege. You may not be a person of great means, but that does not equate to privilege – at least not in the context that I intend to use in this case.

This past week, our area was hit by a major Nor’easter – which is basically our term for a type of hurricane. The storm was pretty brutal; powerful enough to blow over tractor trailers and topple huge tress. Of course, those disasters led to other calamities like enormous danger on the roads and the associated traffic nightmares, as well as downed power lines.

So, millions of people spent countless hours snarled in traffic, while hundreds of thousands of others were left without power. Some are still left in the dark and without heat on a cold winter’s morning. Although I saw some enormous trees felled in my neighborhood and heard the constant wail of sirens, my apartment was relatively unscathed: I had heat and power but no Cable TV or Internet. And, it continues the same way more than 48 hours later.

It was when I woke this morning that I the whole privilege thing struck me. I went to turn on the TV to get the latest information on storm damage. I noticed that the time was accurately displayed on the front of my cable box. This had not been the case for the previous 2 days. Therefore, I assumed that the outage was over, and I would have my cable and Internet back. Well, low and behold, power on, my TV brightens, and I get this message: “This channel is currently unavailable” and blah, blah, blah.  My Internet was also unavailable. I must admit that I was put off by all of it – after all, it had been DAYS since we were stuck by the storm, why is not repaired yet?

Think about that. And, try to give it some perspective.

As I sit here, writing, I can hear the chain saws of the utility crews working virtually around the clock to clean up the mess left by these massive, fallen trees. Having been in the Cable TV business, I know how hard they must be working. Still, despite that, I wanted my Cable and Internet when I wanted it – I pay for it – now, give it to me! All of us fully expect that when we flick that switch there will be light, comfort, and ease.

Think about that: I sit here, in a warm room with enough power and light to write this post in relative comfort. Still, I am (or, WAS – even for a moment) annoyed that I didn’t have EVERYTHING that I am totally accustomed to!

That, my friends, is privilege.

While we endured a few days (at least for the great majority of us) with nothing more than mere inconvenience, millions of our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico suffered for MONTHS with no electricity, Internet, food, or clean water! Many still do. We have taken for granted that our lives are filled with comforts provided by an army of unseen labor, without whose efforts we would still be living in the dark – literally.

Let us not forget our great privilege – nor, those for whom are, perhaps, not as fortunate. It just may brighten up your day.

In the meantime, I’ll just wait for my Internet to return so I can publish this post. That is all.