Those of us who can remember World War II will probably remember that during wartime the country was constantly bombarded with messages such as, "Is this trip necessary?" The purpose was to remind us to cut down on our use of gasoline and in fact, in general, not to expend scarce resources without a good reason. In our present affluent, oil rich society, that message seems almost archaic, but it came to mind the other day when we were driving in a very crowded store parking lot. As usual, people were ignoring the arrows intended to control the direction of traffic, and at the very least fender benders seemed on the horizon. We were just about to pull into a parking space when the space was pre-empted by a young woman in a large truck-like vehicle who decided to beat us to the space by backing into it. No big deal, except that while she performed this maneuver she was talking a blue streak on her cell phone. It's probably just as well that we couldn't hear her conversation because our level of annoyance would probably have risen to a dangerous pitch. We have grave doubts as to the urgency of her call. We have seen 12-year-olds on skate boards talking on cell phones and last Sunday saw a young woman speaking on one in church. New technology is wonderful. Satellites have made our communication systems something that once seemed like science fiction, but if we don't use the technology with some degree of sanity it may become the Frankenstein we never intended to create.

E.F.B.