Sitting on the Curb and Waiting

On Sunday, April 22, the New York Times featured an article, The Flight from Conversation  (www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/opinion/sunday/the-flight-from-conversation.html ).  For one moment I felt I had preluded the Times with last week’s blog.   The truth is that this topic is and will become a national conversation among those that still possess conversational skills.  Social silence is the inevitable.

The idea did not come from the tables of multi-generational families silently gathered together in public, the parties of young people silently glued to their devices, or the consistent checking of personal devices as though they were causing unstoppable muscle spasms; it was the Titanic! 

PBS debuted a reenactment of what allegedly took place below decks in the engineering rooms and the boiler level before the Titanic sank.  Quickly assessing the damage and realizing the ship could not withhold the pressure of the water rapidly rushing below the decks, the men examined the blue prints of the miles of electrical wiring. They fought until the very end to rewire the lights and keep the ship lit, saving hundreds of lives.

Men kept stoking the boilers, which balanced the ship, allowing the ship to stay afloat an estimated 30 -60 minutes longer. The dedicated men choose to stay below rather than saving themselves.  Rapid brainstorming, quick communication and the dedication of these courageous men allowed passengers to find the few lifeboats.

A while back I was in New York for a summer electrical blackout.  It was a hot afternoon only a few years after 9/11 and anxiety was high.  With no information, everyone was outside on phones checking in with family and friends hoping to find out what happened.  As cell phone towers lost power more phones went dark.

You may laugh here, but as a seasoned traveler my first aid kit contains a tiny battery operated radio and a flashlight that reside full time in my bag.  As the news of a major electrical grid failure came across my radio, strangers gathered to hear the news.  The information was passed around verbally and then spread via cell phones.

 I immediately went to the closest super market chain.  Not only was it closed but all the employees were sitting on the curb telling everyone, “We are closed.  Can’t open the registers, no electricity.”  I told several workers that there is manual button that can pop the drawer open.  Begrudgingly they responded, “But we won’t be able to make change.”

Two doors down at the mom & pop market, one guy was manning the change box with a calculator and another was making sandwiches using all the deli meat and cheese.  All the 6 packs were being broken up and sold individually.   They sold almost everything in less than an hour.  The unopened chains throughout the city lost everything perishable and wasted a huge sales opportunity.

One of my friends felt that there was nothing really strategic in what the mom & pop group did.  “Really?” I responded.  “Assessing the situation, determining a need, saving their inventory, their insurance, and helping out the community – it all worked for me.”

In a world with non-stop communication, texts and twitter can be used for great things as well as the mundane.  We assume that all our devices will work, that we will always be wired.  But when the wiring is quiet, what happens?  Do we sit on the curb and wait?  The ability to be verbal, strategic, and make decisions when our toys don’t work needs to be learned.  Teachers for last week’s course selection have offered their services. We are now accepting student enrollment.  As Ben Stein said in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Anyone, anyone?”