Where has all the silence gone? Have we noticed its absence? Has its absence been filled with anything? That is anything we will miss? Perhaps a moment that will lead to thought? Maybe originality.
I suspect we have all noticed. Or has silence become unnoticed?
Some seek out the quietness of the deep woods. Or the quiet expressions of the gentle brook. Most don’t. Most are tempted by the noise—tempted to join in. The music is turned up, so too our voices. Cacophony! How can we listen? How can we create—either thought or deed?
Now we carry around a listening device at war with listening. We get stuff. Distraction. Listening—well we pretend.
And if not amplification, then the ever-present motors are barely muffled. Or, people talking loud enough to be heard. Is the thoughtful ever yelled?
Does this end up any place we want to go? Or, do we know? Silence is an incubator. What is noise?
Somehow we should reflect on silence. Honor thought. The Quakers did it and led our country out of slavery. Can our mind escape it as well? Are we missing the answer?
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.