Cell Phones

November 30, 2010

Lately, I’ve been walking early in the morning, a two-mile track around the neighborhood. Usually, my sojourns take place before very many folk are out and about. I encounter a few schoolchildren waiting for buses, but overall the traffic is pretty slim. Though I’ve never been too keen on walking for exercise, I’ve found it to be a good way to collect my thoughts, plan my activities for the day, and pray.

My walk this morning got started a bit later than usual, and the traffic was heavier. By the time I was making the turn and about to head home (walking north on Napa Valley Drive), the cars were whizzing by at a pretty good clip. More often than not, I ignore the drivers as I am absorbed in my own thoughts. But this morning I looked into the faces of those who drove past. It was not yet 8:00 a.m., yet most of the young women who drove by (this is not sexist, it’s just the way it was) had their cell phones affixed to their ears.

There is no particular lesson to be gleaned from this, just the observation that the dependence on the cell phone starts mighty early in the morning. Had my daughter been one of those young women driving by, I am thoroughly convinced she would have been counted in that vast number of those who can’t drive without talking to somebody.