Ten Four

On a two-way radio 10-4 means "OK I heard and understand your message." So I have always thought of October Fourth as my personal day to celebrate communication.

Without the 10-4 there is only a one way channel of information. Someone speaks or writes. Yet, without the verification that someone has listened or read the message there is no way of knowing whether communication has occurred.

There is an ad currently running for one of the major cell phone companies that highlights this issue in a humorous way. In the ads, the call is "dropped" just at the critical point in the conversation, when silence would be disastrous. The caller, hearing nothing, thinks that the respondent is speechless, and therefore assumes totally the wrong meaning.

In the classic Paul Newman movie, Cool Hand Luke, when Strother Martin speaks the line "What we have here is a failure to communicate" (just after he has brutally whacked Luke with his riding crop), he is talking about Luke's listening skills, not about his ability to send a clear message.

This is why it is so frustrating to watch politicians being interviewed or participating in those awful debate spectacles. The moderator asks a tough question and the respondent says whatever is on their mind, as if we wouldn't notice that they failed to answer the question. If the question was stupid, the respondent should say "That is a dumb question, I will not dignify it with an answer."

At my age, having a great conversation is near the top of the list when it comes to satisfying experiences. It is all too rare to find people who speak your language, have something interesting to say, are interested in listening to your perspectives, and who share a sense of humor.

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There are rare moments in life that we have a special sense of time and place that stick in our minds.
On October 4 1957, when Sputnik was launched, I was 15 years old. I can recall being with my brother and our buddies having cokes and fries at Doran's - our long since disappeared hangout.
One of the guys came in with a newspaper and we all read about the satellite that had been put into space by the Reds. Satellite? Orbit? We were mostly interested in cars and girls and baseball. But, we knew instantly that something in our lives would be changed from that day foreword.
None of us thought we would still be alive 50 years later.