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We've gotten too loud. Noise - it's all about noise these days.
You ride in your car. The window is down and you're cruising, minding your own beeswax. Then, out of nowhere, some yahoo pulls up next to you and he's got his radio blasting. It's so loud that his excellent taste in music can be shared by everyone within a city block.
Should this kind of selfish behavior be rewarded? Thanked? Ask him, and I'm sure he'll assert his right to play the music as loud as he damn well please. Ask me and I'd say the half-deaf schmuck should have his radio removed from his car...permanently and immediately.
What's up with this noise business? I'm sure it's just me getting cranky now that I'm 40, but c'mon, really, what's the deal?
Let me ask you - how many of us keep a radio droning in the car while we drive, or a stack of CDs on repeat during our waking hours at home or, even more inexplicable, let the TV blare senselessly in the background, even though we're not even watching the damn thing? What's the point? Are we trying to fill some kind of void in our lives?
I say, it's time for us all to...
Stop.
Look.
And LISTEN.
Let's talk about dogs for a second. This is a pet peeve of mine. Joe Neighbor has a Doberman. Joe Neighbor thinks that his rough, tough dog will keep nasty burglars away by barking at anything and everything that moves - 24 hours a day. Funny thing is, Joe doesn't hear his own dog, see, because he's got the radio cranked up too loud.
In reality, all Joe is keeping away is his neighbors, driven insane by the barking. So, what do THEY do? Crank up their stereos. Funny, that. Where I used to live, before I moved to the middle of nowhere, I had to sleep with a humidifier on - not so my skin would be silky-smooth in the morning, but to obliterate the sound of the lame-ass Doberman barking at shadows!
Hey, gone shopping lately? Pick a store, any store. I'll bet there was some sort of music playing. What exactly do store owners think they're achieving by this? Proving that they're hip and cool? Is the pulse-pounding beat gonna get us to shop faster, or buy more cool stuff? Not me. Loud stores mean that I get out as fast as I can. Sorry, ladies and gents but I, for one, am a confused son-of-a-gun.
Can't we all just shut the hell up?
Getting back to motorized vehicles, why are motorcycles so loud? You know that those sleek, Ninja-style bikes can be muffled, but I guess that would make too much sense. Genitally-challenged men must get a much better sense of power if their vehicle of choice makes more noise than anything else on the road. Don't even get me started on Jet Skis.
How many of us have had bar conversations like this?:
"Hey, Pete, what's new?"
"What?"
"I said, what's new?"
"My name isn't Stu, it's Pete..."
Needless to say, this is the result of decibel infringement. Does my rib cage really have to vibrate for me to have a good time?
But, let's not forget those leaf-blowers. I don't know about your neck of the woods, but in Southern California, they are absolutely relentless. Electric or gas, they buzz away whenever the dogs, motorcycles and helicopters are on break.
Okay, enough ranting - what is to be done about this? I recommend that you create a daily period of "Quiet Time." Maybe it's only a half-hour a day - first thing in the morning, lunchtime or before bed. It's a special period where all external, man-made machines are silenced and you sit down in a quiet place (if possible) and simply listen. Listen to what? Listen to nothing - listen to the sound of your own heartbeat.
Ever experienced that sort of quiet? I have. One time in southeastern Utah, I watched a Vulture fly across a dead-silent canyon and I could hear nothing else but the sound of its wings flapping. It's an amazing thing. As I walked around, I could only hear my own footsteps in the dirt. When is the last time, if ever, you experienced such solitude? Let me tell you, as a guy from Detroit - land of Rock and Roll and loud cars, the silence was deafening. As I walked across this barren land, it took several hours for the ringing in my ears to stop.
True silence doesn't come right away - you have to seek it, nurture it - protect it.
My layman's theory is that when you shut out the stuff bombarding us every day (and make no mistake, we're being attacked by noise of all sorts) you can finally listen to yourself. It's a great chance to look inward and see what makes you tick in your basic, stripped down form. Don't be afraid. What you hear might be an inner voice crying out for help. If so, listen and respond. Who knows? You might delight in the fact that things aren't all that bad in your life.
Either way, you won't know until you try. I think you'll like it. Silence IS golden.
Best,
Bruce Campbell
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