There are times when the world is just too loud, the noises seem like they will never end. I live in the suburbs so my environment always echoes of passing cars, sirens, and the consistent buzz of the thousands of busy humans interacting in the city I live in. Since I am always surrounded by noise, I enjoy the sound of stillness, a blank sound we call silence. It can be the loudest noise and the most quiet noise. When it is exposed, you cannot avoid its ringing. Although when accompanied by other sounds, it fades into the background and remains unheard until alone. Silence if selfish and greedy, it wants to be the main attraction of the show and refuses to be heard if other sounds are around. It always wants to be the center of the stage or it refuses to perform, unlike most noises that are perfectly content sharing the stage and creating an atmosphere of colorful sounds. Silence is black and white, it either echoes louder than all the other noises when its alone or it doesn’t even bother to make a sound. It is very hard to capture the performance of silence, in the world today, it rarely likes to perform. To take an audience with silence is to separate yourself from all other noise.
I once was in an area in the desert that didn’t have as much commotion as the city. When I separated myself from the other noises, I heard it. There wasn’t even any background atmosphere noise that you always had in the city, even if it was quiet directly around you, waves of background noises from far away flooded the environment. But in this desert place, that sound was absent. All I could here was silence, the sound was so powerful I could not ignore it. It echoed through my soul, it was the first time I’ve heard true silence. The quietness and silence was one of the most beautiful sounds one could here. It created an atmosphere of calmness and peace that could only be found in few places in the world. The lack of noise was the most unnatural natural sound I’ve ever heard. It is natural because sounds are created by things that wouldn’t be considered natural, before there was life on Earth, it must have been a quiet place. At the same time, the lack of noise was unnatural to me, I’ve been surrounded by a vast array of sounds, some wonderful while others are a nuisance and distracting. I was able to hear every thought in my head and feel my heartbeat as I listened to the silence make its sound of emptiness all around me. Although some fear silence, I think that silence is a beautiful thing. I love music as much as life itself, but silence is something else, alien to most people. We are always surrounded by a storm of noises, but if you ever encounter silence, I hope you can appreciate it as much a I do. You might even disagree with me and say that silence is not a sound, but if you ever encounter a deep silence, you will hear the emptiness we describe as silence. When all else fades, silence will always remain.
Life, Laziness, and Lessons 