🚀 go-pugleaf

OK!!� Here is a copy of a letter to the editor of the Montreal Gazette
originally sent via e-mail on January 15th by yours truly:-

Sir,

The single event that started me thinking about the vulnerability of the
individual in today's society occurred when I received a phone call from
a Quebec-Hydro representative (or so she said!) yesterday afternoon
asking me if I had power. I replied that I did but that my neighbours
across the street were still powerless (in more ways than one!) and had
been so four days after we had been reconnected. She thanked me for the
information and hung up. That call got the wheels in motion!

Shouldn't Hydro have known that I had my power back? After all, they are
the mega-utility, the ones with all the guages, switches, monitors and
computers which should be able to tell them at a glance which customers
have or are without electricity! They wanted my confirmation as to the
state of their system. That made begin to wonder if, all along, they had
no knowledge of my neighbours' plight. Had the crew which had repaired
our problem forgotten about the rest of the grid in our area? Did any of
those poor customers ever make an effort to contact Hydro officials to
remind them that they were still without power days after our furnaces
and lights began operating and shining? Or were they also blind to the
supposed almighty power of their trusted utility that they assumed knew
about their problem?

Recalling the Gazette story I had read earlier that day of the Kirkland
resident who had taken it upon himself to hail down a Hydro truck and
along with a friend convince the crew to help those on their street do
whatever was necessary to get back on line. Here was an individual who
had made the initiative to get some action taken by the mammoth utility
he had perceived was insensitive or ignorant to his predicament. In
short, he was not prepared to sit idly by while dozens of trucks went
about their assignments blind to the local conditions.

Perhaps, I thought, if someone across the street had taken a similar
initiative four days earlier when our power had been restored, they
might have also been enjoying the heat and light as we had had before
them. Maybe they just assumed Hydro was on their problem - their faith
in the system blinding them! We just don't know, do we! The utility is
far too huge in times like this past week. There is talk in Ontario now
about de-centralizing the giant electrical utility in that province so
that smaller, local authorities will oversee fewer customers -
supposedly making the service more sensitive to local needs. That is
exactly what most of us needed during the week from hell!

We have been told not to interfere with the Hydro trucks and crews we
see on the street while they went about their business. Their rounds and
jobs had been assigned by some central authoity who, as the phone call
had established, had no real knowledge of the local dilemna! And the
Kirkland affair made me even more skeptical as to the ability of the
mega-utility to have the full picture! If a couple of citizens was able
to convince a repair crew to initially concede to spend a half hour
helping them and then remain there ultimately for nearly twelve hours,
what happened to the orders they should have been following from the
powers on high? This was clearly a case of people power in action!

So, sometimes, individuals have to act. They must not feel intimidated
by systems and corporations which tend to become omnipotent. If I
happened to see an airline service truck accidently collide with one of
the engines while I was on-board at the terminal gate preparing to take
off, I would not hesitate one second to tell someone! There are far too
many of us who have come to place blind faith in science and technology
- believing that all possibilities have been accounted for and all
potential events predicted. This is just not the case. Individuals must
not be left out of the loop!

J.P. Knox
Pointe-Claire, QC
�