Bridge Tragedy Provides Communications Warning

Hopefully my father in law is in Alaska. That's the rumor at least. Minutes after the recent tragedy of a destroyed Minneapolis, Minnesota bridge, my wife and I were on the phone trying to reach her dad, Bill. Besides being the father of my wife, he's my golfing buddy who got me turned on again to the sport. We wanted to phone him.

As of the time of this writing, we haven't found him. In fact, all we have found is recordings each time we call telling us of "technical problems," that we are sure are related to the disaster that has had several casualties and fatalities.

Again, rumor has it, he's in Alaska. Everyone who knows for sure is in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. I don't see making a successful phone call any time soon. We will soon try emails, but preoccupation with the tragedy probably will delay a response.

This is a terrible tragedy and I'm not trying to under estimate the magnitude of this tragedy. However, it could be worse. Much worse. September 11, 2001 proved that. This disaster reminds us that, in spite of the wonders of modern communications, we still have a long way to go.