Columnist Carol Daniels
We lost power for about 21 hours following the recent ice storm. I had to work that first day while the boys got a snow (ice) day from school and happily stayed home with their father, loading logs on the fireplace all day long to keep the house warm.
I returned home from work at about 7:30 that evening to a home so cold (to me) that my existing headache got worse. “How can we sleep in this cold?” I wondered.
Fortunately, our power was back on before we had to layer the clothing and huddle together like the male birds in the movie March of the Penquins. We didn’t suffer during last July’s storms and were able to blast the furnace after only a brief outage, so my attitude toward AmerenUE has not reached any level of frustration or rage.
It’s not just the power outage that makes me wonder. It’s the war in Iraq as well. Could this outage have been avoided? Could we have sidestepped this war? And what can Ameren and President Bush do differently?
Many customers were livid about their inability to reach a real person when they tried to call Ameren. Those who faced several cold nights said they just wanted someone to listen and respond. Those who had to buy body armor for family members in Iraq – and those who still wonder why we are in Iraq and not Afghanistan – just want someone to listen and respond … with the truth.
There are also those customers of Ameren who believe the nation’s largest investor-owned electric and gas utilities, with more than $17 billion in assets, is hiding something. I don’t believe that is occurring with Ameren, although I do believe the Public Service Commission could be equally at fault. It’s the regulatory body, and if something is wrong with the Ameren is doing business, it would seem the commission that’s supposed to look out for consumers isn’t doing its job.
I am more inclined to believe that the truth is missing regarding the war. Is the president not watching the same newscasts that you and I are sickened by? On one day alone, one hundred were killed or found dead in and around Baghdad. The total of U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war began in March of 2003 is approaching THREE-THOUSAND.
And, yet, Americans still have to contend with the notion by some that leaving this out-of-control situation amounts to a policy of “cut and run.” Would you ever tell a woman being abused by her husband that if she leaves, it’s just cut and run?
I realize that I, like many of you, don’t necessarily have the intestinal fortitude of my parents, certainly not of my ancestors. That is partly because life has become so comfortable. There is always food in the pantry, gas in the car and money in the bank for most of us. So when I had to face the possibility of sleeping in a cold house, my mind began to struggle just a bit.
There are some things we should all be prepared to do. Bad weather is going to come, and we have to be ready. But there are some struggles that we can most certainly avoid. Can Ameren trim more trees? Can you do a better job of planting the right trees and paying to have them trimmed yourself? Can Ameren install heavier cable that won’t be snapped by two inches of ice? Can you purchase a $500 generator or have emergency cash in case you must stay in a hotel? Yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
And even if we find ourselves involved in difficult, stressful situations, we must be able to recognize when the time comes to cut our losses and go. And this war is one of those situations.