As I write this, Seattle and environs are very slowly being restored to normal life. Normal is what we take for granted; in this case normal is the supply of electricity.

The things you can’t do without electricity are countless, but high on the list are filling your gas tank and getting cash from your ATM. The police had to escort some tanker trucks to gas stations; some gas stations newly supplied and functioning had to shut down because impatient customers were behaving badly.

Seattelites are self-reliant people; they like their personal space, the more the better. This kind of event challenges Seattle lifestyle preferences. “Powerless” was the Seattle Times’ one-word headline the day after the storm. Powerless means no light, no heat, no gas, no internet access. Powerless means a greater reliance on other people. You may need a complete stranger’s help. That’s tough to take for some.

Seattle nice but hearts of ice?

Of all the places I’ve lived, I’ve found the people around Seattle the least approachable. They treasure their privacy. (That’s a generalization, but most generalizations are true in general when a majority agrees.) In February 2005, the Seattle Times magazine featured an article on this phenomenon: Beyond the smiles, the Seattle Freeze is on. The writer describes the behavior as “antisocial” and looks for causes in the abundance of clouds and the Nordic-Asian reserve that was imported by immigrants hailing from northern Europe and the Far East. My theory is that people came here “to get away from it all” and resent those who came afterwards no matter what their motivation. Contributing to this frosty climate may be the world’s largest software company which “does not play well with others” and hires people for whom not playing well with others can be a requirement because it creates a very competitive environment in which “being liked by others” is not a highly esteemed value.

The citizenry’s tendency to be reserved is mirrored by the city’s remote geographic location. Only to the south is another major US city: Portland. Because distribution channels didn’t always extend to the far northwest, businesses started here and then expanded from Seattle across the country. Think of Starbucks, Costco and Nordstrom.

Melting Seattle hearts 

As I finish this multi-day blog, many Seattle neighborhoods, especially on the eastside, are still without power, our home among them. This wasn’t anything close to Hurricane Katrina but bad enough for an area that lives on warm coffee concoctions and high-speed internet connections. I’ll be leaving tomorrow to spend Christmas with my in-laws in Columbus, OH. Since we were not home when the power went out, I will put the breakers in the off-position. And I will leave at least one faucet dripping.

The temperatures have fallen below freezing at night, but the attitude of many locals has melted to heart-warming proportions.

P.S. I took the photos on December 16, 2006 around Woodinville, Wa. 

© 2006, Gerhard N. Ade