A Free Cell Phone Directory for All is Only a Matter of Time

Did you know Father's Day almost didn't exist? A Detroit woman named Sonora Smart Dodd wanted to celebrate the life of her father, a widower and Civil War veteran. She wanted to establish a day to commemorate her father's honorable life and celebrate all fathers. Men initially thought it was ridiculous and laughed it off. They said they'd rather have a National Fishing Day. An all-male Congress didn't feel men needed a pat on the back for things they would do anyway. The first local Father's Day celebration was finally held in 1910. In 1924, President Coolidge proclaimed it a national event, and President Johnson declared the third Sunday of June as Father's Day. President Nixon finally signed it into law in 1972.

Isn't it hard to imagine a time when we didn't celebrate Father's Day? If it wasn't for the dedication of one grateful daughter, our poor dads' hard labor may have gone uncelebrated to this day. That sentiment gives me hope that cell phone directory may exist some day, too.

I guess, some of you may wonder what Father's Day has to do with a cell phone directory? Simple. Every societal change, every new idea initially started with disagreements and protests. It was the dedication of a small number of citizens who truly believed in the positive change and fought hard until their dream was accepted by others and became a reality. Can't we all muster enough dedication now to convince the government about the necessity of a cell phone directory? Without it, every member of our society will soon be threatened with almost complete isolation.

Sure, the development of every new idea often takes years, and we can still wait, using the cell phone lookup service, but not much longer. Already the Yellow Pages are almost obsolete because everyone has a cell phone now. The government is scrambling to reconcile this unfamiliar phenomenon with new laws to regulate the increasing mess; however, current measures are just a bandage on a serious problem. They are supposedly protecting our privacy from telemarketers, but those pests have long found illegal ways to get their hands on our cell numbers. It's the regular people and businesses that are having trouble finding each other.

As time passes and we begin to understand new societal needs better, we'll become better at satisfying them. So, we must become involved and believe that a new cell phone directory is in our near future. And remember, Congress was once against Father's Day, too.