What Would Kate Do?

Hi.  Ter here.  I heard something interesting earlier this month that got my wheels a-spinnin'...which made me yearn for a time before my own.   I heard that a financial institution came to a screeching hault and was turning people away because their computers were down.  People couldn't get their money!  This made me wonder: when did we become less capable than a robot or a machine?  Why, when machines spring a sprocket, do we panic and spring a sprocket of our own?   Where is our backup plan and why can't we seem to find it?   I found myself asking:  What would Grandma Kate do? 

I never met Grandma Kate, but from hearing stories of her and the glorious generation she comes from, I bet she would have been able to overcome a sprung sprocket and find Plan B lickity-split.  If the problem happened at a bank, I bet Kate would have counted the money by hand and noted down who took what and when - to adjust the account later.  If it was at a grocery store, I bet they would have started a tab and the patron wouldn't be asked to just "put everything down and come back later for it" - because what if, for instance, they needed to feed their children now?   Why, in this day in age, are we so quick to say "No", and not help our fellow man? (Sure, there are plenty of logical and rational reasons, but it's still so sad!)

Grandma Kate was in my mind for the rest of the day as I performed my tasks. How would she have made a phone call? Certainly not while driving, as I did.  She would have maybe sat at her kitchen table with the *corded* phone. Certainly she would be able to be more attentive to the person she called, than I was.  Of course I couldn't write down the information I was given--my hands were at ten and two (or rather just one at twelve :( ). 

How would Grandma Kate buy that tool her husband needed?  She wouldn't have looked it up on her phone, found, purchased, and confirmed it was shipped within minutes.  She would have dressed, gone to town, talked with folks at the store, and purchased the item.  It would have taken her much longer, but she would have been able to communicate with another soul while I was just glued to a screen.

Grandma Kate, and all those in generations before my own, would have found Plan B simply and quickly because they knew how to communicate with one another.   We may lack trust in our fellow man these days, but maybe it's partially because we don't communicate with them.  Just a thought rattling around in my head...what do you think?  Does our technology"unite us or divide us?  Are we better for having it, or worse because of it?  Feel free to comment below.

ter