THE TELEPHONE THAT DIDN’T NEED A VOICE
An unexpected discovery at the Ahwahnee Hotel
The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite has a way of making you look up.
Its grand interiors and magnificent architecture invite admiration.
But I found myself looking at something rather less grand.
A public telephone.
Having grown up in the days when we sometimes needed an operator to connect us, I still marvel at how far telephones have come.
Clearly, I wasn’t always the most technologically independent person.
Back then, I might not even know the number. I could simply give the operator a name and hope for the best.
But this telephone had a little surprise.
Beside the familiar handset sat a TDD, a device that allowed people who were deaf or hard of hearing to communicate through typed messages over a telephone line.
The instructions explained how to operate it. Even accessibility came with a user manual!
Today, we measure progress by how quickly technology speaks to us.
Perhaps the better measure is how well it helps us speak to one another.
I had come to admire a grand hotel in a magnificent national park.
I left with a reminder that the most meaningful things in a grand setting are not always the grandest.
Sometimes, they are the things that help us connect.
