h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I (Amsterdam) phoned my daughter(27) at thursday evening and although her telephone rang, the "answering-machine" obviously didn't work; No electricity. Fifty million people (U.S.A. and Canada) súddenly have no electricity.
A modern nightmare.

Still I am not really worried.
Although she lives in Manhatten all on her own, and she could have been trapped in the subway.
I don't think she would have been in an elevator, or it must have been in the hotel where she earns her money.

That last situation can be extremely stressfull, although people míght be able to yell at you about what is going on.(what if you have to go to the toilet, or someone needs medicines, etc. etc?).
Not knowing what's going on - I think - will be the worst stress.
Can be really, seriously traumatic.


She's also a volunteer at the Red Cross ("I múst do sómething as a contrast of working in a decadent hotel, where people complain you don't sell the champagne of 1000 dollars a bottle"), but I don't think they could phone her this time.
At 9-11, she was one of the first at the spot, but then everybody could be phoned. No, that's not true. Also thén the network was over-used (I don't kwow the right expression). But now there is álso no electricity.

New York, the place to be....

It seems to take even lónger than expected. To normalize life in New York.
While it is véry hot, it means, that people have to walk upstairs; maybe twenty, thirty floors and end in a room at 40 degrees,after travelling without subways, etc. etc.
One hospital has suddenly no electricity at all!

I do realize however, that everything can be seen as relative;
In Liberia (just liberated after a long civil war) people are now "free to bury their relatives..."

My link with New York is Melissa, my eldest daughter(27)of four, living their on her own,
and
my link with Liberia is humanity, the great human family.

Of course, the situation of Liberia is infitely worse. That's clear.

But still, we can't cross out peoples' own suffering with each other.

I remember that, when I worked as a social worker with victims of World War 2, that I experienced situations in which parents said to their children; "Your boyfriend broke your relationship?"
"Well, we have been in Auschwitz for two years".

As we can see, that is a dis-honest reaction.

To say it in a bit strange formulation; everybody has the right to experience his/her own suffering and the acknowledgement of that.

P.S. After posting this at the Entry "New York", I discovered this entry; "New York - update", so I decided to repeat my posting here.

She called me tonight and told me, there was also real chaos and panic, because many people were trapped in the metro's (400 trains), in complete darkness, for hours and hours.
And it's very hot these days too. Your body can't cool down.

Chaos in complete darkness, for hours and hours.
A nightmare.