Let he who has never had a cell phone ring in a meeting cast the first stone

I was invited to a lunch today with a local service group and, as a part of their meeting, they held an open debate between two local politicians.

As everyone knows, I am politically neutral and have no views on politics so you can rely on the fact that this observation is not political.

Throughout the debate several cell phones went off. I have mentioned before that I don't get offended when someone in a public place forgets to turn off their cell phone. I believe that if Jesus were teaching today, he would probably say something like, "Let he who has never had a cell phone go off during a public meeting cast the first stone."

We all have likely forgotten to turn off our cell phones and we all have been embarrassed. No one intentionally leaves their cell phones on when they go into such meetings.

While we may accidentally forget to turn off our cell phones, we can choose whether or not to answer them. If we choose to answer them, we should get up reverently and leave the room to talk.

Now, back to the debate. Right in the very middle of the debate one of the candidates cell phone rang. He could have acted embarrassed and apologized. He could have made a joke. He could have quickly turned it off and pretended nothing happened.

Or, he could have answered it and held a conversation while his opponent was talking.

He chose the latter. "I can't talk, I will call you back, I'm in a debate."

TV cameras were on him at the time, but I am sure that it won't be covered on the news. I felt sorry for his campaign manager who was a few tables over, but I thought it was funny too.

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