Forget the birds; we wake up in the morning to the blare of car horns and the morning news, to the ringing of cell phones and alarm clocks. We are a people of talk radio and loud music. We are a society of interminable sound.
The cacophony of our lives consumes us. An hour, ten minutes, even a few moments without sound is almost unimaginable. Silence has become terrifying. I mean, picture it: a family eating in silence; a date where no one is talking; a night when the power is out. The accompanying emotion is always negative--tension, awkwardness, discomfort, even fear...But it is easy to forget the fact that noise has become our constant companion. We go on with our surround-sound lives, completely at home with the ever-rising decibel levels necessary for our survival. We forget, and in fact have forgotten, the value of silence.
Tonight I had the chance to spend some quality time with someone with whom I can talk to for hours non-stop. Yet miraculously, this person is also someone who I can spend long periods of time with without saying a word. And with this person, I realize, unfailingly, every single time, that it's not necessary to always have something to say. We don't always have to contribute to the noise.
My mother taught me that the man I marry must be someone I can easily talk to, someone I can carry a good conversation with. I think I've found that that's only one of the essentials. The other is that that person should also be someone I can sit quietly with, without feeling the need to fill in the hush.
There is something almost sacred about a moment of silence. There's something utterly beautiful about being able to share it with someone else. :)
yii hii! :p just assuring you that people read what you write.
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence hits me. Sharing a silence with someone, like, walking together on your way home or just sitting beside each other without saying anything-- not being cheesy or anything, but ever since I realized it I always consider it as a romantic and meaningful moment. :)
ReplyDeleteman i wish that guy was me.
ReplyDeletewell, it's silence which speaks out that which cannot even be expressed by millions of words.
ReplyDeletesilence could change things as it could trigger paranoia, looking at it at a whole different angle.
ReplyDelete