Phones, the Senate and the Wizard of OZ

This last Saturday my significant other and I went to the phone store to return her new cell phone that was not working properly. Occasionally the cell phone would turn off in mid-conversation, sometimes it would ring, while other times she would just get a voice message letting her know someone had called. I tagged along because I wanted to pick-up a BlueTooth ear receiver for my phone so I could talk while I work, and yes, so I could drive hands free. We were in for a technology slam. The phone store is really not descriptive of the devices they are selling. One could buy a phone that downloaded 100 songs and games, was accessible to the internet, and received satelite TV. Satelite TV, are you kidding. These were just the phones. You could get a phone/PDA that would allow you to organize your entire life and watch TV on a screen about the size of a business card. All of this technology held in the palm of your hand.

While we were meticuously judging the merits of each phone/techno wizard there in the phone store in NW Austin, I used my cell phone to called my buddy in St. Louis and ask his advice about one of the phones he had just purchased. All of the sudden I was transported into the Wizard of OZ and could see the "wizard" behind the curtian saying, "ignore that man behind the curtian...". Being found out the Wizard confessed his position, and at Dorthy's request gave each of the sourjoners a confirmation of what they already possessed. "Oz never gave nothin' to the Tin man that he didn't already have".

Don't miss understand me, I'm amazed at the power and technology that can be cradled in your hand, but what struck me was that all the technology in the world had not brought us any closer to real communication. I could call a friend in St. Louis, email, or even send him my picture and yet as a culture, a society we have not scratched the surface of communication. This very week I had watched and listened to the greatest and latest sham on the public airwaves. The Alito confirmation hearings. Our US Senate is ostensibly interviewing the next Supreme Court Justice and yet the communication was a farce. The Democrats attempted to delve into the past of Judge Alito with pointed, end result questions, while the Republicans tried to out do themselves in congratulating Judge Alito on being a super human being. We learned nothing, except that our Senate does not communicate with each other.

What is communication? It's not sharing information, the Senate did that to no avail. Computers do it all the time, but what is the net result. To communicate is when two or more persons have the courage to place themselves aside and listen to the other. To Understand the other's experiences are unique. To allow the unique experiences of others to expand our own experiences. Communication is a dynamic experiecne in which the information shared between individuals creates, or propels, the experiences of those involved into new understandings that none of those involved could have forseen the results before the conversation began.

The technology has far out paced our ability to communicate. Maybe before you are allowed to buy a phone or get an email address you should be required to take a communications skills course, much like a student driver does before getting a driver's license. In fact maybe there should be a learners permit first. A person could only use the technology with a licensed communicator present for a certain time period and then require a professional communicator tp sign off on their skills. I guess the driving record of Americans would argue against that, but imagine how bad it would be without the drivers training we received.

My wish for my fellow beings is that we would not sell ourselves short when it comes to communication. Think what we could accomplish if our communications skills matched the technology of our tools.

This morning as I made the coffee, read the paper and viewed the evidence in our now quite, slightly disheveled house, that last night was indeed a New Year Celebration, I wondered how this day, this celebration becomes such a bookmark in our lives. Every minute that passes ushers us into history, every proceeding second pulls us into our future, but somehow this trip from "then" to "now" goes unrecorded most of our lives. No this day is needed. Together with friends and strangers we gather to eat, drink and laugh. We joke about how quickly our resolutions will fall by the wayside, another wreck of happless renewal, and yet it is this very ritual that will be memorialized as the moment we passed from 2005 into 2006. Last year we took that trip from "then" to "now" 31,536,000 times, but this is the one we will remember.

Will there be renewal? Well yes, we cannot help but move forward, but this "time" we are conscious of the people and ideals that make up our life and we carry them across this "new" threshold knowing we are not alone. We do not exist merely to procreate, and amuse ourselves. We exist as an intergral part of each of those around us. In a small way, at that moment we sense our connection to and cooperation with all life. We have moved from "then" to "now" intact.