I was born in 1953. Growing up, we mostly drank milk and water. Sometimes Kool Aid. And having a glass of orange juice was a treat (and it was a small glass!). Having a coke was special. So was going out to dinner, getting an ice cream cone, going to a movie, or traveling on a plane. Because we experienced each less, having each of these experiences was special.
Things have changed dramatically since then. I think Jerry Seinfeld summed it up nicely in one of his monologues. “You know what I like about being an adult,” he asks, then offers: “Want a cookie, have a cookie!”
Somewhere into my 40’s (and that’s when Jerry said that) we entered a time of plenty in which cookies and movies and dinners out and hopping on a plane became normal. Not special. This lifestyle of abundant living was good. I liked it. Want a cookie have a cookie. Pretty nice.
But I’m not sure Jerry could sell that line any more. Like many, I find myself choosing to do less. Fewer dinners and movies out. More evenings at home visiting with friends and entertaining ourselves. I’m putting back the fruit flown in from Chile and picking up the berries grown in Glastonbury. I buy a few cuts of meat locally raised and butchered, and take it from the freezer slowly. I’m rediscovering “special”.
I’ve been talking to people about energy a lot lately. I struggle to find useful language and metaphors to use to communicate both the gravity of the issue and the exciting prospect of our capacity to respond to it. I like to describe just how precious energy is. It’s special.
I’m hoping that, like my recent experience rediscovering how to treasure things more by having them less, we can learn to think and feel that way about the use of energy in our lives. Unlike the delectable experience of savoring an occasional ice cream cone, treating energy preciously requires us to delight mostly in abstractions. A safer planet. A healthy future for our kid’s. Long term financial savings. Hmmm? That sounds pretty special.