DID I SAY THANK YOU?

In the original Law and Order series they had the odd habit of ending conversations abruptly.  I suppose it was so that they could get more of the important dialogue in.  When the police officers would interview someone on the street, when they got the information that they wanted, the police officers just walked away talking to each other – no “good bye” or “thanks” not even a, “Don’t leave town” – they just walked away.

 

I find myself facing the same thing with my phone.  It talks to me now.  Usually when I am driving.  “Ciri,” I’ll say, “Please read my texts to me.”  He (and mine is a he – Father K turned him into an English gentlemen – he will say, “You have two texts from Fr. Soandso.  Would you like me to read them to you?”  “Yes!” I reply.  Ciri then reads my texts and asks if I would like to reply.  “No.” 

 

Then that’s it.

 

Just like a conversation on Law and Order.

 

It is a terrible habit in which to fall.

 

I say, “Fight the machine!”  Push the button again.  Tell Ciri, “Thank you.”  Every time.  He will have a response for you.  It takes a little extra effort, but do it.

 

No, Ciri does not need thanked.  Ciri is a mindless computer.  It is we who need to thank, not a machine that needs thanking.  We need practice to be gracious and mindful.  If you need something to be thanked, think of your thanks as a prayer for all that make Ciri possible.  Or make the thanks to God.  But be a thankful person.  It is a difficult enough discipline to form, don’t let a computer rob you of it.