The Noise Is Winning
There is little peace remaining in our world. Noise has infiltrated every facet of our lives. The Trojan horse of senses, noise enters our ears while our brains are completely unaware of its nefarious intentions. Slowly … noise nibbles away at our sanity. The battle between noise and peace is waged in social media, on the evening news, along congested streets, in overcrowded classrooms and entitled neighborhoods. As values and priorities shift, noise is pulling ahead in the race.
With the thunder of countless opinions seeking an audience, important voices are not heard over the roar of information overload. The loudest declarations are not always the wisest. Our days and our homes are filled with more. More food, more entertainment, more information. Technology connects us instantly to the clamor of more ideas, opinions and news from around the world. The space and time available for judiciousness, generosity and reason are diminishing.
Truth is less significant than haste.
The boldest and brashest are bullying their way into favor with little resistance from the meek that are alleged eventual inheritance of the earth. Vulgarity is commonplace in television, movies, music and sadly, at the dining room table. Actions have little consequence. Inconsiderate, selfish behavior reaps benefits while tolerance is preached to those whose rights are trampled.
The figurative din of society is at times reduced to a dull roar as literal noise is imposed upon our senses. Noisy neighbors prompted me to take my writing for an outing to one of the last bastions of public peacefulness, the library. Cubicles and desks were occupied with people silently studying or diligently working on their laptop computers. And then that guy settled in at a nearby table.
His name was Richard. His name is known by all within earshot as he had several phone conversations while sitting in the midst of people seeking a quiet place for undisturbed concentration. Richard set up an interview for the McDonald’s on Tyler Street for the following morning. He then arranged to borrow five dollars from a friend for bus fare to his freshly scheduled interview. Working the night shift is a deal breaker for Richard and additional schooling is completely out of the question.
Information unnecessary to me now resides in a little section of my brain. Eating up space as I wonder if my new acquaintance got the job, or not. A simple solution existed. A solution beneficial to Richard’s life without being intrusive upon neighbors. The lobby or the café on the first floor would have been excellent locations for Richard to work on getting his life back on track.
Society is growing more selfish. Neighbors have forgotten how to be neighborly. Noise is pervasive in all directions, 360 degrees of intrusive sound. The intention of the noisemakers is a question of perspective. We each wish to live life in our own way. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. It stands to reason that music is in the ears of the listener.
The blaring of car stereos and the revving of motorcycle engines is fun for the perpetrators. The sound is anything but peaceful for others as it rudely disrupts solitary thoughts and dialogues with friends. Bystanders wait patiently for the boisterous youngsters and the brazen attention hogs to pass by. The meek compliantly suffering at the whim of the abrasive.
The docile are at the mercy of those who show no mercy. The submissive are many and yet do not stand together and fight for sanity. Noise is saturating our world, literally and figuratively. Escape from the bombardment of racket is found only in blissful sleep — for now.
The noise is growing louder in my mind. The shut down and restart process is growing more difficult to accomplish. The noise is fighting for a foothold in the dark of night as it battles to defeat the tranquility of slumber. Noise is winning the race against an ever-shrinking peace. Surrounded by the chaos of others, the noise is closing in tighter and tighter.
Does little peace remain in my world or is there little of my world remaining? I am of little consequence. My quiet existence is being consumed by the loudness. When noise is all that remains, the only true place of peace will be in the eternal sleep of death.
Originally published at Medium.com on 1-19-2019.
