Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

These past few days have shown the power of electricity versus the power of trees, and the trees did not win.

A terrible storm roared through St. Joseph and Benton Harbor last Friday, ripping trees from the ground as if they had already been made into toothpicks and matchsticks. And, as the trees fell, so did the power lines that supply electricity to the communities.

The newspaper headlines said over 200,000 people across the state were affected. I don’t know about the other 199,998; but Earl and I were without power for about 30 hours, long enough to begin to appreciate how our lives are governed by wall switches, clickers, and computer mice. Since we are on a well and a septic tank, no power also meant no water, as the pump on the well is run by . . . you guessed it . . . electricity. The thought of a hot shower began to be an ongoing dream of ours.

Others fared worse, and some of our neighbors were without power for five days. One neighbor had a tree fall on his house; another had his camper flattened, and yet another saw his boat take a beating.

But all this wasn’t how the trees lost the battle between themselves and the electric company. When the storm passed and the crews began to repair the wires, they implemented a rule that says no trees can be within 15 feet of any overhead wires. Which means the people who waited the longest for power also felt the wrath of the electric gods. While they lost trees to Mother Nature, they lost many more to the electric crews who cut a swath 30 feet wide, leaving trees in their path for the homeowners to dispose of.

I certainly don’t want to go back to living without electricity, but it saddened me to see how many trees lost their lives to deliver it to us.