My Morning WalkNew day, uninterrupted thoughts

My family took a weekend vacation this summer where we visited an art museum.  In the hallway sat a red phone under a glass cube with the sign:  ”In case of emergency, break glass”.  It was supposed to be a replica of the phones in White House movie scenes.  We have always had a running joke in our family that if the phone rings after 10 pm someone had better be really sick, injured or dead.  In other words, it had better be an emergency.  10 pm in our house is bedtime and my brain is “closed for the day”. 

The question in today’s world then becomes “Why is 10 pm the cutoff time for the phone ringing?”  Why is it acceptable to interrupt family time between 4 pm and 10 pm?  Is our family not as important as the 8 hours we just spent answering the phone at work?  A  time management CD produced a few years ago said:  ”The phone is for the convenience of the person who owns it, not for the person who is using it.”  In other words, we are not required to jump to attention every time the phone rings, especially since 8 out of 10 times it’s someone calling to sell us something.  Surprises are only fun on birthdays or if someone you love is on the other end of that unexpected call.  And unless it is either of those cases, is anything ever said in a phone conversation that can’t at least be started in an e-mail (No SPAM, please)?  How often when the phone does ring is it actually an emergency?  Maybe once or twice per year.  Anyone know where to get one of those glass cubes?