Last Saturday had started like the many other days of spring break. I woke up around 11 a.m. and planned to relax the day away. Around 6 o’clock in the evening, everything was continuing like normal. I was surfing the Web and my 8-year-old brother was watching TV when all of a sudden the house went dark.

It was shocking to have my computer suddenly turn off. Nothing else in the house worked either, including the lights. Angry at the minor annoyance, my brother and I prepared to return to whatever we were doing as soon as the power went back on in a few minutes.

A few minutes passed. Many minutes passed. The power didn’t return. Darkness was quickly approaching, and it would be inconvenient and potentially dangerous to wander around our house in the dark.

At first we were able to pass the time by reading, but eventually it was too dark to make out the words on the page. Without any electricity or light, we thought of what we could do, but we couldn’t think of anything.

This made me realize how dependent modern society is on electricity in everyday life. It was depressing how there was nothing to do but lie around, waiting for the power to come back.

I realize that this was a rare occurrence, and I probably won’t be without electricity for this long for the rest of my life, but I couldn’t help but ask the question, “What would happen if alien space ships eliminated all sources of electricity from the face of the Earth?” How would we continue life as we know it?

Fortunately, we found a flashlight and a few candles. The family gathered in the candle-lit living room, passing the time the old-fashioned way by telling stories or making shadow puppets with the flashlight.

Later, we found out that we were one of 26 houses to lose power in our neighborhood. I asked my brother, “We were one of 26 people to lose electricity; do you know what that makes us?”

My brother promptly responded, “The Chosen Ones!”

I was about to laugh at his absurd claim, that we were of the fortunate few to have no power for a few hours, but the more I thought about it, the more I agreed with it.

Our family was able to find nonelectrical ways to pass the time, and in the process we learned more about each other through the stories we told, and discovered new interests in board games and other things in our candle-lit living room.

Now, I think we truly were fortunate to be one of 26 families to turn off the lights and embrace the shadows of the candle.