Our news-feeds have been saturated with the devastating winter storm in Texas. I simply can't imagine the horrific living conditions resulting from the disruption of electrical power. The state was understandably not prepared for conditions like this.
Our San Antonio neighbors have experienced extreme hardships as a result.
On Monday, February 15, power was subject to planned outages. This, according to KSAT-TV “caused millions to be without power for days.” About the same time, grocery stores began limiting the purchase of water, eggs, milk, bread, and other items.
Warming centers opened on Tuesday.
Boil-water notices began on Wednesday.
Planned rolling-outages were started Thursday. Even so, over 10,000 people remained without any power.
The end of emergency conditions for the city was announced on Friday. The San Antonio airport opened while 400 customers were still waiting for electricity.
All roadways were finally opened for travel on Saturday.
Finally, all boil-water notices were rescinded on Tuesday, February 23.
For most of a week, many survivors suffered without power, heat, and water. They struggled with bursting water pipes as temperatures indoors dropped below freezing. They melted snow for water and burned furniture for heat.
KXAN of Austin, Texas, indicates that a unique power grid contributed to this disaster. NBC News seems to agree. This article does not point any fingers, however. It's told only as an example.
In 1935, the Federal Power Act allowed the Federal Government to regulate the transfer of electricity between states. Texas refused to participate. The Texas Interconnected System was subsequently created in 1941. Eventually, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) was born.
This stand-alone electrical grid was created to serve the people of Texas in a financially beneficial way. It is possible that this decision saved the citizens of Texas a great many energy dollars. But even if this proves true, these savings came at great cost. Looking back, some might say that this trade-off was far too risky. There are always two sides, though.
The design of ERCOT isolated the people of Texas from being able to pull much-needed power from the other electrical grids around the country. They decided that going it alone was in their best interest. This month, choosing to go it alone left them - alone.
Perhaps we shake our heads in dismay thinking this was an indescribably poor choice. "What were they thinking", we ask. They have no support when trouble arrives. They have nobody to soothe or encourage them. They are isolated in their time of need.
Before we dismiss their decision as incredibly short-sighted, we should examine our own decisions. It doesn't take a failed state-wide electrical grid to result in our own loss of support. We even have an anagram for decisions like this: DIY.
I'm not mechanically-minded. If you know me, you'll have no problem agreeing with that statement. I would never undertake anything that involves a hammer (or any other tool) on my own. That's why I work. I pay others for things like this!
The concept of 'Do-It-Yourself" is not restricted to Home Depot's home-improvement advertising. It can readily apply to the relationships we choose to build and those we choose to tear down.
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