1st
Deprivation: Day Eight
Trust but verify.
Ronald Reagan used this term, an approximate translation of the Russian, doveryai, no proveryai, when discussing arms control with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
It wasn’t until tonight that I realized how frequently I reply on my own portable electronic reference to verify facts, validate truths and memorialize important moments. Perhaps centuries from now, historians will note ours as an age when even the rich stopped using professional biographers and instead captured their own touchstone events firsthand.
Tonight’s story begins with am exchange with a woman with whom I do occasional business. She asks, “hey, why didn’t you send me that person’s contact information like you said you would?” She’s referring to a conversation from a couple of months back. I’m absolutely certain I did send the informaiton, exactly as requested. I distinctly remember drafting the message.
But I have no proof. Ordinarily, it’s a few flicks and swipes, and voila, here’s pocket-sized, irrefutable evidence of the prior communicae. Or at worst, an immediate opportunity to correct this oversight, and provide that information digitally on the spot.
I can do neither.
The conversation quickly devolves on this unusually cool Washington, DC evening into my recent experiences without a phone—the talisman of our time. I note that on one hand it’s incredibly empowering—for the moment, I am exactly where I want to be, and I’m forgoing all other opportunities without qualification.
On the other hand, it’s incredibly limiting, not knowing if somehow I’m needed by someone I love.
For now I’ll have to trust, and (later) verify, that everything’s ok.
