Managing the Sound

Choose what your hear.  Granted, a great deal of loud or obtrusive noise exists in the world.  The fire engine blasting down the street certainly makes its presence known.  Jack hammers breaking up concrete are like a never ending dentist drill on a giant’s teeth.  That doesn’t cover the neighbor who mows at 7:00 on a Saturday morning or blows every leaf into submission. The hot-rodder car with windows down and the air vibrating makes me wish for a quick light change. Those sounds seem unfortunately a part of life,

Headphones and earbuds provide different types of protection.  On an airplane, a good pair of headphones can preserve your sanity when the cutting voice four rows back is giving details of  invasive surgery. Earbuds channel your favorite music or audio books as the only sound invading your private space during a walk or sitting at a bus stop. In some cases, though, they create a zone of no-contact with those around.  I have touched the shoulder of a teen bopping distractedly to some music and about to step into a street as the light changed. Giving instructions to a child with headphones and an i-pad requires getting to face level and believing they can lip read.

Some quiet sounds are to be cherished.  Children pass my house on the way to school, leaving chirpy words in the air.  Thunder rumbles in the distance at times to precede needed rain drops. The thump of mail being dropped off creates anticipation, and the click of a key in the lock draws me to welcome an awaited for love.

A friend and I drove her 4-wheel drive to a parking spot in Canyonlands and walked to the edge of a mesa to look down on the confluence of the Green and Colorado River. Without spaces to cut its speed and create a whistle, wind circled us without making a sound.  Very faintly we could hear the water we saw below meshing and blending and flowing on as two became one. Silence can be the ultimate of sound within you, one you have waited for and suddenly hear.

Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord..a strong wind…an earthquake..a fire. And after the fire, a still small voice.  1 Kings 19: 11 – 13