Email and Driving Habits

I am coming to loath email as a form of business communication. While realizing that email communication in business is not likely to go away anytime soon, I am seeking to intentionally change the course of many email exchanges I have throughout the week - often by picking up the phone and telephoning the other person. Most emails I receive are written in staccato - short, crisp, often without broad context, seldom inviting thoughtful discussion, and rarely with regard to people as people. Emails are, more often than not, the exchange of data from one computer to another (the two computers are the two people). I also observe that people are often copied on emails who need not be copied; it is as if the sender is saying to the recipient, "Here is what I'm saying and I want you to know that I'm letting all these other people know what I'm saying so you'd better respond to me right away about my concerns". It other words, copying others can be a form of attempted leverage rather than a sincere attempt to bring others into the conversation. 

I often wonder, "Would this person talk to me like he (or she) is emailing me? Would the face to face conversation be as impersonal as this email? Would it be as abrupt?"  

Mind you that I'm not talking about isolated emails, I'm talking about a culture of email.

This leads me to the morning and evening driving commute. People weaving in and out of traffic at high rates of speed, tailgating, aggressive driving without regard for the safety of others; again I wonder, "Are these people like this at home and at work?" No doubt the answer for some of the people is "Yes", but I can't believe it's true of many of the drivers. Then again, as I write these very words I'm reminded of the common experience of being in a public place, such as a restaurant, and being subjected to the inconsiderate cell phone conversation of either someone at your very table or at an adjacent table - disengagement from others is an epidemic.

Responding in kind to rudeness and aggression is a trap, it is a descent into the world's matrix and it entails drinking from the cup of devils; I've drunk from that cup more than once and will likely do so again - but I pray that God will deliver me from that foolishness and toxicity. Our call in the midst of an insane and depersonalized society is to be salt and light, agents of grace and mercy, in Paul's words, it is to show others "a better way".