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Thursday, August 25, 2005
Prohhorov: Welcome the ‘brownouts’
By Gina Prohhorov
Great potentials
The energy crisis is really here. Looks like energy conservation strategies, such as limiting the use of electric power, will be up soon. Scheduled brownouts (i.e. power failure) may possibly be one of the solutions.
Regardless of these energy conservation tactics, brownouts do sometimes happen. That’s when the best opportunity comes out in this high-tech world.
When all the computers, TV and VCD cannot be used, what’s next?
Basic communication.
What is nice about brownouts is that everybody goes out of their rooms, sometimes screaming or calling out to each other for candles or for comfort.
Isn’t it that kids stay close to their parents, and mom and dad try to hug them and tell stories to keep them company? Well, that is beautiful because that’s what kids have missed. That’s what teenagers miss in the family. Communication.
When all the lights go out, keep the family together and try telling stories. It may not necessarily be fairytales or stories on Disneyland characters but more importantly, they are stories of the life of mom and dad. There is so much that you can share with your kids that may make them learn values in life and even may make them know you better as a person.
Even anything about the kids’ life when they were only two or four years old can be used as story materials. They love to go back in time and hear the details that mom can share with them, such as how they loved to bring their rubber ducky to the bathroom when it was bath time or how they loved to open books that had colored pictures and pretend at reading. This would mean that they must have been intelligent little girls or boys when they were young, and mentioning this would boost their self-confidence.
Try jotting down the number of hours you talk with your kids and you will be amazed at the figure. This is all because in this high-tech world, there is so much of coping up that uses time, like surfing on the Internet, emailing, texting, singing in the video-karaoke joints. Balancing one’s life and scheduling time are sometimes neglected.
That is why when brownouts come, it’s challenging because only the creative can be happy in the absence of light. When it comes to conversations, kids even get to think of questions which they may not ask when the TV is on. The opportunity to get to know each other is there.
Even for a couple with no kids, a brownout would be fun or perhaps romantic. A time for two people in love to talk about the future or even the past. It is fun to remember the awkward, exciting moments of falling in love, isn’t it? Remember the first date, the first quarrel, the first kiss? Perhaps during a brownout, you can even confess how you really felt the moment you went home after the first date.
Definitely, there are topics that can only be discussed during brownouts. I do not know why, but try to observe that. Even the absence of light can keep people close because they can sense and feel more.
They get to talk with an open heart. Now do not wonder why rural areas are overpopulated. Yes, that is the magic of having no light. You get to be passionate.
If only people could still be sensitive and passionate about human relationships even with the lights on; then that would double magic. Come to think of it, martial arts experts, even if blindfolded, know where their enemy is just by concentrating and sensing. Our eyes and the light should give us more reason to maximize and balance our potentials.
The next time a brownout comes, shout for joy. Time for babies . . . oh no . . . sorry, I mean bonding. (For seminar-workshops on English Fluency, Teambuilding, Quality Customer Service and others, please contact the author through 0920-524-8777 or email gppersonality@hotmail.com.)
(August 25, 2005 issue)
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