Friday 20 April 2012

Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless - Josh Billings

I have one of the most basic mobile phones in the world.  Or perhaps I should say that I use my mobile phone in the most basic way possible.  No doubt the phone has great potential that I ignore. 

But I resolutely restrict my phone use to telephoning and sending text messages.  The basics.  Oh, and it's pink with a mirrored front, so I can (and do) check my appearance.  Like I said, the basics. 

I have a computer at home and in work. I therefore see no reason to use my phone for any internet or email purposes.  And I don't do social networking.

Yet, inspite of my seeming indifference, mobile phones are a wonderful thing, aren't they?  Undoubtedly useful in an emergency, of course.  But the text messages!  Take this as an example, received this week:

"Hi.  Hope you're feeling a bit brighter.  I've nearly finished The Women's Room. So feeling very lucky to have you as my friend.  Love you lots x".

Ahhhh!  Sweet, huh?  Doesn't that make you smile?  It made me smile.  And go all funny inside.  This from a friend who lives in another country, with whom I speak two or three times a year, and whom I see once a year at best.  A friend with whom I experienced some of the most amazing times of my life.  Someone I once thought I could never, ever be parted from.  And thanks to technology, from whom I never do feel too distant.

Words work, you see.  You don't need to write a novel or poetry to impress or touch somebody.  You think of them, you wish them well, you love them: you text them.  Instant communication at its best.  Words work.

No comments:

Post a Comment