In the nineties, a popular, parlor game was ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon’, the prolific movie actor. It’s based on the concept that assumes any two people on Earth are six or fewer acquaintance links apart. All of us are playing that game more and more today when we want to call someone who isn’t in our cell phone list of contacts.
A few months ago, I heard about a neighbor who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The news came from someone who had overheard the woman’s husband talking in the coffee shop. He was looking for people to take his wife for her chemo treatments because he was busy working. In our rural community, we consider everyone our neighbor, but these folks weren’t close friends. I could help but I couldn’t get in touch with the couple. I racked my brain trying to think of someone I could call who would have the woman’s phone number but to no avail.The telemarketers have no problem ringing my number but, so far there’s no way for acquaintances to reach one another without a mutual friend to provide a phone number.
In the good old days, I could pick up the phone book and find most people’s home number and address. Only a few, such as cops, asked to be unlisted in the publication. It was simple to call all of the families in a child’s school class or members of a church’s congregation. When my husband and I stayed overnight in a strange town, we checked the local directory to see if any Ditzlers or Tschabolds were listed.
Would you like a phone directory listing cell phones or do you prefer receiving calls only from those you share share your number with?