My how our world has changed. Sunday night, telephones were ringing off the hook.

Someone dropped a bomb.

Someone blew something up.

Someone was up to monkey business.

Someone crashed an airplane.

Terrorism, some people thought.

Fear and worry ran through many minds.

We suspect it’s human nature sometimes to jump to the worst possible conclusion in a situation.

And the combination of a massive power outage accompanied by strange lights over the horizon was enough to send even the sanest among us into a conspiracy-based whirlwind of suspicion.

But when the dust — and burned fur — settled, the culprit of the mini-Natchez blackout wasn’t a terrorist or a madman. It was a wayward raccoon.

We’ll never know what the little mischievous furry creature was doing Sunday when it stumbled into its untimely electrocution and plunged neighborhoods into darkness.

In a few hours, power was restored and most everyone — except the little raccoon — got back on with life.

Perhaps the lesson, if there is one in such a little mishap, is that we shouldn’t jump to the worst possible conclusion.

Sometimes, just sometimes, things aren’t nearly as bad as they seem, especially in our great community.