Ringing Phones

When phones were first introduced in English upper class society, they were considered rude, because just about anyone could call and interrupt you, regardless of whether you knew them or not. So the phone booth was consigned to the closet where the butler alone would answer it in the case that it actually rang. Today phones are everywhere. Not only have telephones come out of the closet, but those cunning communicators have found their way into your clothes too. Hardly anyone leaves the house anymore without carrying their phone with them. People will no more walk out the front door without their house keys or their clothes, than without their cell phones along. And what have the wages of the omnipresent phone brought us? On the one hand they have given us omnipresent communication. These days we are always in touch with everyone, all the time, whether or not we want to be in touch with them or not. Just press a button or two and voila. No more answering machine dodges are acceptable. Forget your amusing answering machine recording, the real question is why isn't your cell phone on? In every master-servant relationship, there comes a time to ask, who is really in charge. The Russian scientist Pavlov trained dogs to come to the sound of a ringing bell. But that was early in the 20th century. By now in the early 21st century, we have all come to be trained to run at the sound of a ringing bell. Hurry, rush, answer it. It could be for you. Maybe you won the lottery. Maybe that Nigerian prince who promised to send you 20 million dollars has finally decided to follow up on his end of the deal. Run, because the phone is ringing. Run.