Did we ever imagine that unused vocal cords may get weak and perhaps even deteriorate? It appears that a large swath of our population is not using them. An old friend , a weak writer who never responded to a telephone call but cobbles together a a long account of her mundane life activities by email made a bizarre response to my phone call.
“ Hello . Hello Who is it?’
“Its me calling you personally to invite you to my book launch”
“ This is most intrusive.”
“Feeling all right?’
“I don’t talk on the phone”
“Sore throat?” i add the correct measure of fake concern.
“ Just text.”
“ For heavens sake i have known you for three decades. Why would I do that?”
Am i shouting I wonder. Is this my voice or is it a fist which has gone through the phone and landed on her face.
Here we are in the age of rage; the age of its ok to be nasty along with cancel culture; lets dole out insults to people we have known for decades and generally bear good will towards. Lets throw in a fist as well .
As I mount this little assault and pray that some sense may prevail. My victims are People who do not answer their phones for social calls but tap out a text. People who tell you to do the same or horror of horrors send them an email. People who boast that they never pick up their phones. Now in the case of world class Heart Surgeon or one of those legendary Film agents There is some validity. Every moment of their lives are like precious diamonds and not meant to be wasted. They do not have the time They are telling the truth as calls bludgeon their phones one every two minutes but not you. A telephone ring is always a startling situation. Curiosity, joy and anticipation flavours the ringing tone of the telephone. Now there is caller ID so a choice is made. Not important enough to have the call picked up on the other end or too busy with a fabulous life which is being disturbed by humble little friend? However the fingers and not the vocal cords get busy. Tap tap and a venal response flies back and the imposition is respond! All texts are fake says a behaviorist. People who have never written a letter in their lives feel they are polishing their writing skills. Meanwhile some of us who write for a living, authors and journalists sitting in quiet rooms in solitary confinement do not need to shore up their writing skills by writing snappy texts. We are too busy trying to find the offence in all this.
You see large swaths of people hunched over their phones. Their ears plugged and they are texting to God knows who ? or they scroll read . What is being read as nothing is shared? Nobody talks. The human voice with its cadence and accents is mute and with it the emotional response which comes. What would happen if a call to 911 for an emergency evokes the response please send this in writing. Meanwhile the intruder with a gun has taken off the top of your head ?
Some schools have now refused to let students bring phones with them. This is too late as denying a child often brings a delinquent zeal to the fore. Look what happened to Adam and Eve? The apple was eaten along with consequences. This is now a fashion accessory clutched in one hand always ready to film record and send out an accomonpanying text. Everyone is a cub reporter but no can talk. The silence is filled with the cacophony of utube and instagram by these dgital creators. Another new moniker for the human race which furthers alienation. Case in point is entering the elevator where the other four people wearing ear phone buds are looking down at their screens and of course tap tapping. Nobody says good morning or smiles tacknowledging the human being standing next to them. Slowly the human race is getting dismissed by its own species.
I was educated in a Catholic Convent school by Austrian Nuns. They ran this venerable institution which brought in the highest International Baccalaureate results for decades. Morning Assembly in the Great Hall was conducted in silence by the 600 students. Talking in corridors to class was conducted in silence. classroom attendance also in silence and the only place where hell or rather hell of a sound was heard was the sports fields. We hooted, jeered, cheered at the top of our lungs. It was expected and permitted. Now public sound is only heard in protest marches and the sports matches.
Spiritual silence is part of many faiths. In Buddhism it is called Grand Silence and the Dalai Lama often practises it as well as Nuns, Jesuit Priests and Hindu Yogic Masters. Attached to this is the notion that a fundamental human act that of speech is sacrificed for inner concentration and cleansing the mind of worldly and often foolish affairs. This is nothing to do with our hordes of texters. Most of them consider this is a cool new trend and have no intentions of giving it up. They are not cleansing minds
Ouch!
Well said! Even tho I too don’t like talking on the phone I do like saying hi or making small talk on an elevator or waiting in line. There’s just something wonderful about face to face.