Writing the Future: Everything We Do Sends a Message

Photo courtesy of What We Do is Secret

You know when you pass a pay phone and the receiver is off the hook?
Dangling there like a hangman’s noose? Do you know how it makes you feel? Terrible. Because what you’re seeing isn’t just some haphazard handling of public property, but the depressing end to a story. Whatever the conversation was that led to the dangling pay phone, I can tell you for a fact, it was not a pleasant experience. Just having to be ON a pay phone in the year 2012 is a sure sign that things are not going right in your world.

But pay phones (apparently) aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. So now, when I see one dangling off the hook, I hang it back up. And no, this is not a public service announcement where I tell everyone “If you see a piece of trash, even if it’s not yours, pick it up and throw it in the trash can.” Fuck that. There is no way I’m picking up someone else’s trash. I’m like Jack Nicholson in As Good As it Gets when it comes to washing my hands. But the receiver isn’t trash, it’s an iconic (if not archaic) symbol of civilization, and as little as I want to touch that dirty plastic phone, I do it anyway – most recently on the subway platform at Times Square. I saw the dangling phone, walked by, hung it up, and caught eyes with another guy walking in my direction. His look said it all. It said: “If the world were to descend into chaos right now, I would immediately ask to join your tribe.” Because he knows and I know, a pay phone off the hook is crazy town. It’s Mad Max. It’s little dirty kids running around with machine guns, and flames bursting out of smoke stacks.

What our world will look like if you don't hang up the dangling pay phone.

So the next time you see a pay phone hanging off the hook, just know that everyone else is having the same reaction to it. And that when you hang it up, something powerful happens. You write a new story for humanity. When you put the receiver back on the cradle, that’s you saying “Fuck Mad Max. The world is not going to implode this year. We are all going to get to play with our iPad 3s and maybe go to the Caribbean for a long weekend.” That is you rewriting the future.

And everyone is watching.