While I was at the grocery store last week I witnessed a terrible tragedy. Granted this incident alone would not have constituted anything noteworthy, but it seems to be part of a growing trend that is quite distressing.
The incident was simple – I was standing in Whole Foods on Pearl Street trying to decide which type of honey I should buy and what in the world “agave” is. About eight feet to the left of me and looking at the cookie section, a man pulled out his cell phone and proceeded to dial. Upon getting his intended receiver on the line, his wife, he asked, “What kind of cookie do you like?” He then began to walk around the aisle until he found said cookie, picked it out, hung up the phone and went on his way.
I on the other hand stood there – stunned, confused, and heartbroken. How is it that this man could be married to a woman whose favorite cookie he didn’t know. Her favorite cookie! I mean, come on now, that seems like a fairly easy thing to remember and yet he hadn’t a clue.
I have observed recently the metaphorical rise of the machine. As more people have instantaneous communication with little effort, they don’t actually communicate. People write e-mail letters that aren’t really letters – they jam out a couple sentences before hitting the send button. I have more phone conversations that last three minutes than ones that last over 10, and kids have entire relationships over AOL instant messenger without ever meeting the person on the other computer. This one incident made it painfully clear to me – people may have more ways to communicate, but without making any of it personal it really doesn’t matter.
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