What brought about this feeling of powerlessness I felt today wasn't anything earth shattering, but that didn't soften the blow any. The fact that even something mundane as lunch could be ruined by a technological malfunction just made me feel even more frustrated. Cars break down, computers blue screen, things fail. But the powerstrip that my slowcooker, loaded with what should have been lunch, was plugged into? When even something as small as that is out of my control, it is definitely a reminder that we are only human, and even the machines we build, the fires we kindle, anything we create from a paper airplane to a jumbo jet are guided by another force.
When I discovered my slowcooker off, my chicken still raw, I said to myself "how did people do this before electricity? I should have had the soup on the fire instead, stupid technology." And then I remembered that fires can go out, my ancestors probably also had their share of thrown together cold lunches after something happened out of their control. Thank G-d we had some salad, canned beans, soup in a carton. It was a veritable vegetarian feast in the end.
Our power as humans is to take the materials G-d gives us and create something from it. Not the same as creating something out of nothing, we are just human after all, but to take the situation we have and the materials and resources and talents we are given, and produce. Yes, as a mother I felt the pressure to feed my family, as a perfectionist I felt the stress and disappointment of my planned meal falling to pieces, as a Texan meat-eater I was less than thrilled not to have "real" food and settle for what food eats. But we had a beautiful Shabbos meal with lovely flavors, great conversation, and even a little ice cream for dessert. I'm going to keep telling myself that and hopefully I'll eventually drown out the other voices that keep harping on how I failed.
We are only human. We need technology to accomplish many things that are beyond our grasp. When that technology fails, we feel powerless, full of the knowledge that there are just some things we cannot do, cannot control, no matter how many buttons we have our fingers on.
What brought about this feeling of powerlessness I felt today wasn't anything earth shattering, but that didn't soften the blow any. The fact that even something mundane as lunch could be ruined by a technological malfunction just made me feel even more frustrated. Cars break down, computers blue screen, things fail. But the powerstrip that my slowcooker, loaded with what should have been lunch, was plugged into? When even something as small as that is out of my control, it is definitely a reminder that we are only human, and even the machines we build, the fires we kindle, anything we create from a paper airplane to a jumbo jet are guided by another force.
When I discovered my slowcooker off, my chicken still raw, I said to myself "how did people do this before electricity? I should have had the soup on the fire instead, stupid technology." And then I remembered that fires can go out, my ancestors probably also had their share of thrown together cold lunches after something happened out of their control. Thank G-d we had some salad, canned beans, soup in a carton. It was a veritable vegetarian feast in the end.
Our power as humans is to take the materials G-d gives us and create something from it. Not the same as creating something out of nothing, we are just human after all, but to take the situation we have and the materials and resources and talents we are given, and produce. Yes, as a mother I felt the pressure to feed my family, as a perfectionist I felt the stress and disappointment of my planned meal falling to pieces, as a Texan meat-eater I was less than thrilled not to have "real" food and settle for what food eats. But we had a beautiful Shabbos meal with lovely flavors, great conversation, and even a little ice cream for dessert. I'm going to keep telling myself that and hopefully I'll eventually drown out the other voices that keep harping on how I failed.
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