We have an EZ-Pass that allows us to pay tolls by slowing
down to fifteen miles an hour, or on some highways, without slowing down at
all.  Our EZ-Pass shaves some minutes off
our trips and saves a bit of stop-and-start gas consumption, so I am glad we
have one.

But like with so many other electronic items in our lives,
we lose something when we lose a human interaction.

Which brings me to a sweet memory that came to me the other
day as I got on the  Massachusetts Turnpike
at the entrance I used to take to go to work. 
I always went to the same toll taker. 
He was very polite and we exchanged pleasantries every morning.  I liked him, and sometimes wondered about his
life and if he enjoyed what he did. 

One day as I was leaving for work, I stopped to pick some
daffodils from our garden.   When my
toll-taker put out his hand, I dropped in my coins and the bouquet of
daffodils.  He grinned from ear to ear, and
I felt good all day.

That doesn’t happen with an EZ Pass.