I know a woman who barely escaped the World Trade Center on 9/11. She sent me a text message after the Boston Marathon bombing: “Charge your cell phone.†Seemed like an odd request. Then I recalled her telling me how in the frantic minutes and hours after the attack, survivors’ cell phones died as they frantically tried to call their friends an co-workers.
In times like these, we need – really need – to do something. Not just anything, but something that will help yourself and others. It’s just the way we are programmed, especially if you have been through some horrific event before. Some people have special prayers they say during tragedies. Others talk about it incessantly. And some people charge their cellphones. It’s an emotional security blanket.
For me, it’s batteries. AAA, AA, D – any battery that will illuminate a flashlight in those dark, powerless nights after a hurricane. I have been through several hurricanes. They scare the hell out of me. When my home is at the end of projected paths The Weather Channel starts drawing while the storm is still hundreds of miles away, I buy batteries.
Makes me feel better.
I don’t hoard batteries. I just have a lot of batteries in my freezer. There is still plenty of room for frozen pizza and those mysterious lumps of something once-edible that are wrapped in aluminum foil. But the door of the freezer is home to my collection of batteries. They not only give me peace of mind, they also make me very popular on Christmas morning.
For me, it’s important to have an emotional security blanket. It calms my anxiety, which makes me a more pleasant human being and prevents me from being swallowed by my hypomania. I don’t feel quite so helpless – before and after something horrible happens. Having a fully-charged cellphone means I can make my calls and then let someone else make their calls. Having batteries means those long, dark, powerless nights after a hurricane won’t be quite so scary for me – and the person I share my batteries with.
For me, anxiety and helplessness equal depression or mania. Of course, I need perspective. I could very easily fill my freezer with batteries, which would mean no more frozen pizza and throwing out the mystery lumps wrapped in aluminum foil. I need to feel I could help myself – and others – in the wake of horrific events.
I need my emotional security blanket – and frozen pizza.
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And they are apparently too stupid to realize how easy it is to ensure they are called out for their bad behavior.
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    Last reviewed: 17 Apr 2013
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