When the blackout happened, my parents were driving home from another city hours away. They stopped for gas to refill, and discovered that all gas stations everywhere were out of power, and therefore could not pump gas.

My mother told me later how suddenly terrifying the situation became.

There is no power. Your car may not have enough fuel to get home to your kids. We do not know when there will be power again. It may be in an hour, or next week. You are 100 miles from home- a distance that used to be an inconvenience but suddenly might be an impossibility. The phone system may not be working either, or may not for very much longer. You have whatever money you're holding in cash right now to pay for your needs.

We are dependent on our technology in ways we cannot even see.

(They pulled into the driving running on the last fumes in the tank, fortunately)