I’ll never forget the great Northeastern Power Outage of 2003.
It was one of those steaming hot days, late in the afternoon, when everything went out. At the time, nobody knew how far it spread. We thought it was just a brief outage. We thought it was just our area. But gradually the reports began to trickle in from people with battery-powered radios that it was a whole lot bigger than we knew.
I was living in a high rise apartment building, and with the temperatures soaring, everyone came out to their balconies trying to stay cool. Some people traded conversation between the floors. Others brought out instruments. Night slowly fell, and more stars shone down on the Greater Toronto Area–a sprawling swath of metropolises collectively home to millions of people–than had in decades.
From power outages to rainy days, sometimes the most unexpected moments can bring us together. With blackouts on the rise and ice storms more common than ever before, whether by chance or by choice, we tend to connect more when we’re powered down. The latest video from Kraft Peanut Butter shows the powerful moments of connection that can be created when we disconnect.
