The electricity company apologizes to the residents of Al-Mazzeh 86 neighborhood for the power outage that lasted for 15 minutes, due to a technical failure. Maintenance crews were dispatched to fix the issue and restore power to the neighborhood, reiterating how sorry they are for what happened.
Syrians aspire to hear those insane statements from the Ministry, which were melted and erased by the heat of war. Yet there is great resentment towards the Ministry, and "resentment is proportional to love", but feeling like an alien in your own country due to getting only two full hours of electricity is an affront to the dignity of anyone who has a hand in depriving us of this blessing.
Electricity in Syria has morally entered us into the Guinness Book of Records. Whoever can launch into life in 60 minutes is capable of conquering the world in 24 hours. This is not the words of the famous cartoon "Pinky and the Brain," but it seems to be a Syrian electrical cartoon reality.
When the electricity comes, you are faced with psychological, emotional and future priorities, and you are forced to conduct a rapid and sudden brainstorming to develop a plan suited for the urgent situation, because you have no knowledge of the timing of electricity to prepare the plan in advance. Here lies the difficult choice between the future and the present, and every minute of delay means losing past moments.
With a well-honed “smooth” move resulting from experience, you plug in your mobile phone and laptop to charge if you have the latter, before turning on the electric heater to save diesel fuel, as diesel is hard to obtain. To conserve gas, you take advantage of the stove, and here you enter into an endless struggle with your mother, because she is preparing tomorrow's lunch, and within 15 minutes the picture becomes clear before your eyes. The TV is on, devices are charging, even the flashlights’ batteries, tomorrow's lunch is being prepared, the laundry load is on its way, water is being heated up to become ready for showering. Here, luxury crosses the barrier of reason, and you become shocked by the reality that you are supposed to live daily in the presence of electricity.
Of course, if the hour passes peacefully here, the situation is excellent, but if it does not pass peacefully, the electrical transformers start "looting" 220 volts one moment and 570 volts the next. And the journey of household losses begins, of refrigerators, washing machines and phones, due to overloading, because of citizens’ rush for their rights, which causes shock to the transformers and makes them explode with joy.
Imagine a country suffering from many crises, whose citizens live on one hour of electricity in exchange for 8 or 9 hours of outage. Its students are able to graduate from universities and succeed in schools, work continuity and job search due to the economic conditions that have overwhelmed parents and shattered youth’s hopes. And on top of all this they have hope, they innovate, create and draw the future for other countries, as a result of their alienation. In the quest for life, everyone sees themselves outside the borders of the homeland, which is regrettable and we regret.
