Hey Bud!

I had occasion to attend a Food and Beverage board meeting downtown last week.  The meeting started at 8am, so I parked at 7:45 and walked a couple of blocks to the venue.  People were heading to work and many of them had in the iconic white earbuds.  The disheartening part was that they had their heads down and were ignoring everyone around them.  I found it necessary to shout “Hey Bud – good morning!” to each and every one of them.  I managed to get one smile, but for the most part I received scowls.

Our society was built on interactions with others.  We should be both tolerant of others views and intrigued by their thought process.  Without communication, however, there is no chance to do either.  I am afraid that we might lose the interpersonal communication ability with the proliferation of electronic media.

It has crept into our world of produce as well.  First it was the fax price list and now it is the email complete with photos of the product.  This all helps provide the distant buyer with the details of the offering today, but there is no substitute for a conversation with the grower in order to understand exactly where we are in the crop cycle and what effects nature could have on the remainder of the harvest.  The quality, volume and harvest schedule of any commodity helps guide the efficient marketing of the crop.  That just isn’t conveyed without conversation.