I hold affection for nighttime power outages. Something about losing light and noise generated outside our home has always excited me. In fact, whenever that breaker gives way, my husband and children know what follows. We light a room with a handful of candles, gather into it (sleeping bags and all), and then enjoy conversations under the flickering flames until we drift to bed. It’s simple. It’s peaceful. It’s real.
And I suppose it’s the upside of our present social outage.
Don’t get me wrong. Social isolation isn’t something I aspire to long term. Someone spying on me in my home about 4:00 p.m. would most likely find me crying in a ridiculously dusty corner over the emotional weight of it all. Like most people, I miss my extended family. I miss my friends. I miss interacting in person with my students. I miss taking a break from enchanting teenage arguments over who can sew a straighter line or who ate the last of the frozen fruit.
But the present social darkness has paradoxically given me a chance to truly see and appreciate my family’s importance.
Indeed, the Catholic faith teaches that family is the central cell or building block of human society. The idea is that if the family is strong and virtuous, it will spill over and create a more stable and virtuous society. Unfortunately, when social power is “on,” my family often relates to society in reverse order.
We certainly attend Mass and attempt to raise our children with morals and character. On an everyday and practical level, however, we rely on the outside world to direct and guide our family life. We allow work, school, social media, and even our children’s activities to dictate schedules, daily interactions, and even the kind of meals we eat. We in essence become activity gluttons heeding every well-meaning social call without any real discernment or consideration for how it impacts our family unit as a whole–and then wonder why family life sometimes feels overwhelming, or (on really, really hectic days) empty.
With the present lack of social pulls, it’s easier to see our family’s strength in simply being together. Together, we are capable of finding meaning intellectually, spiritually, and physically. Together, we are capable of working towards peace after some brutal arguments. Together, we are capable of transitioning to an entirely new way of living by relying on God and each other. Indeed, this time (with the exception of 4:00 p.m.) has shown our family is a foundational power source.
And when the outage ends, the challenge for us–and families like us–will be recognizing and protecting it as such.
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