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| Late spring encroaches on the banks of the Yellow River in Georgia. Photo by me, April 2023. |
On a recent walk in the woods it was surprisingly quiet. It was so quiet that it was noticeable like a change in the atmosphere from dry to humid. It is not often that you can find woods that are quiet anymore. Most woods around the northern half of Georgia outside of places deep in the mountains are not far enough away from some form of civilization like a road, a subdivision or other people that you can enjoy the natural sounds of the environment. I grew up in a quiet place, enjoyed it and prefer it today.
Where I walked was in the woods of Yellow River Park near Stone Mountain. I know that it was only quiet on the trails because it was a Monday in late April and it was late afternoon. Another day and another time and it likely would not have been so peaceful. This was a fortunate experience unlikely to be repeated unless maybe I returned to walk in the rain.
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| It was down this stretch of path when I noticed how quiet it was. Photo by me, April 2023. |
It is my impression that society and modern life does not value quiet and especially silence. Lives are filled with noisy traffic, chirping car alarms, slamming car doors, leaf blowers, cell phone notifications, loud talking people, music blasting and background television wanting to sell you something. So much space and tolerance is made in life for noise that little is left for quiet.
It is amazing how much can be learned about people because they do not care to remember that voices have a volume control and that we have feet to bring two people closer in conversation instead of shouting from a distance. I find myself judging people's manners by how loud they speak in public and not always by what they say. It is not always about what is said, but how it is said. I would prefer to know less about strangers, but they do not care so shout it to the world they think – or in fact they do not think.
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| I passed through a thicket of blooming mountain laurel and it was a surprise. Photo by me, April 2023. |
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
The same goes for music. I wait for the moment that I hear a car loudly playing something by Bach, Chopin, Mahler or Mozart or anything remotely classical out the car windows as it drives by. Something tells me I will be waiting for the rest of life and never hear that. I will concede that if I heard that often enough too that I might say, “damn those Bach lovers and their incessant need to pollute the world with that noise.”
I kind of doubt I would have that reaction, but I would like to be tested.
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| The twists and turns through the woods. Photo by me, April 2023. |
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
The frequency in which people slam car doors now is something that truly surprises me. The slammed car door is like an act of violence to my ears. I was raised to never slam a car door and learned that I was going to be scolded if I did. Do parents scold children these days? I suspect they do not. Children and adults are zombies to cell phone screens and cannot seem to walk without one in their hand, clutching them like security blankets.
Modern life has been degraded in so many aspects that people either do not notice or care like the trash out the window and into the ditch. Loud people and devices and their behaviors are polluters dragging down the quality of life for everybody else.
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
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| Photo by me, April 2023. |
Some people are afraid of silence and it must be because it is so unfamiliar to them. People have a tendency to feel uncomfortable in the presence of the different, the other and often that other is quiet. Or maybe and this is a more scary proposition; they are afraid to be alone with the thoughts inside their own head. A couple of years ago, I said to someone when I was writing some of the stories in Terminal Wake that the book was as much about silence as it was anything else.
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| I emerged from the tree canopy into a field. Photo by me, April 2023. |
As for someone like me, that is highly
sensitive to sound, I notice and appreciate when sound is absent in
public. I do not expect the world to accommodate me, but maybe they could consider being quiet and modest for themselves sometimes.
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