There is a bond among people in like professions, but I believe a stronger than usual bond exists among we who “met” people before actually seeing them. Today’s technology allows instant voice, visual, and almost instant personal communication. Yesterday’s old-fashioned radio technology using only dots and dashes, that unbelievably came to an official end only several tens of years ago, was born at the beginning of the 20th century, grew up and flourished over the years in a way that molded its practitioners into a community where everyone knew everyone else, by reputation if not personally. The chatter of those dits and dahs after working hours among friends, be they separated by mere miles or wide oceans, evokes memories of stormy or snowy evenings where the operating room is lighted with the friendly, orange glow of tubes and perfumed by the waxy smell of warm radio components. Distance vanishes, and whether through a speaker or intimately confined by earphones inside one’s head, the “voices” are heard, each individual’s “fist,” or manner of sending recognized, the friends are there, and the conversations are deeply etched into memories in a strange, long-lasting way.
