Electricity is not a necessity. I always hear that from my mother since before up until now whenever she caught me overusing electricity. Like if I would turn the television on but I was more attentive to my phone or if I forgot to turn off the lights, something like that and she would really nag me all day.
And whenever she nagged me she would always say that people nowadays won’t live even a single day without electricity. Since I was used to her nagging about that so I didn’t really make a big deal out of it. But then I would be lying if I would tell that it didn’t cross my mind, if people wouldn’t really live without electricity?
Because in today’s generation, it seems like electricity is one of the most basic needs for people to survive. We need it as much as we need air to breathe, or as much as we need food and water to survive. That’s how significant electricity is to us now.
I remember when my grandma brought me to Aunt Lucy’s house, she’s my grandma’s bestfriend and almost a big sister to her. Aunt Lucy is 98 years old now. So, this happens on her 90th birthday, almost eight years ago.
My grandma tagged me along with her to celebrate her bestfriend’s birthday. Aunt Lucy didn’t marry and doesn’t have a child so it was only us and a few of her niece and nephews who already had a family. The first thing I noticed is that Aunt Lucy’s house is huge and modern looking but she doesn’t have a television. All of the house accessories were antique and expensive but there’s nothing that could make her living more comfortable such as an electric fan, stove, washing machine, or even a refrigerator.
At first I thought it was odd, but then when I asked her about it I started to understand. During her younger years, electricity was something that they would need less. She grew up without being exposed to electricity and such things. Gas stoves or lamps were their source of light. They don’t need fans because the air before was more cooler and fresher than now. They don’t need a refrigerator because all they eat is fresh foods every day, and whenever they need to preserve the food they would just place it in a jar and pour some vinegar and salt to it. That’s their way of preserving food before. They don’t need a washing machine because their elders taught them some values that a woman must learn how to wash her clothes to become a responsible mother in the future.
She grew up in that way so I can’t blame her. But then, that happened long ago. Many things have changed already. There were also inventions that are discovered and used even until now. Things change as time rolls fast.
It doesn’t mean that since there’s no such thing before we’ll continue living like that. Humans won’t be contented with that. They would always change and explore. But seeing how things are now, maybe what my mother always told me was right, that people cannot live without electricity.
As we slowly discover the usage of electricity, we seem to be so fond of it and mistook it as something we cannot live without. It became the most important thing in our daily living. We use it to know some world’s updates or to know some recent news and issues. We use it for online classes. We use it for work. We used it for cooking, cleaning, and doing all the household chores. We use it like we cannot really live without it. We mistook it as a necessity. I think almost everything we do now involves electricity. We need it so much to survive but it is not a necessity at all.
Whenever there is a power shortage in our barangay, most of my neighbours would shout in horror and disappointment if there’s a sudden black out. Like their whole life had just stopped or been paused because of this power shortage. Like they cannot do anything without electricity and they would yearn for it to come back immediately. Like they cannot breathe properly without it. How ironic isn’t it? And every time this happens I would really realize how engrossed people are to electricity. And that maybe my mother was really right after all, people cannot live without electricity.
