Are you hot?

Jason Kuffer / Wikimedia Commons

Some of the weather lately has been pretty awesome. Temperatures in the high 90s are always fun, and even the lower temperatures around here have included some wicked great humidity. Living in New England as I do, we don't stress ourselves as much over air conditioners as some states do. There's no reason to, really, because in a day or two the heat will be gone and the weather will be beautiful again. Still, I do understand there are times when it's hellishly hot and you just need a break.

Right now, there are a lot of people in the mid-west without power. It's hot out there, too, up in the 100s and higher in some places. I am starting to wonder, though, what would happen if for some reason our electrical grid failed us. I'm hearing about so many people hurt or dying or dead because of the heat. I find myself wondering why?

Until recently, say the 1970s or later, we didn't have air conditioners. Even electric fans are a fairly new invention. If we go back 100 years in time, a mere drop in the universal bucket, most of our "modern conveniences" are gone. And you know what? People did just fine without them.

It might be less convenient having to go without that a/c, but I don't understand all the fuss people are making over it. Yes, it sucks to be hot, and if you don't even have a fan going it can get really stifling. But there are beaches and pools. There are places to get water and ice. There are still ways to eat our food without this unholy REQUIREMENT for a/c and electricity.

Maybe it's just because I"m not there...