Sunday June 29th, 2008

The exercise:

Having a lazy Sunday so I'm going to steal what I wrote from my writer's group this morning. The topic was silence.

Mine:

Why are so many people afraid of the stillness of quiet? Where did they learn that silence is to be avoided? Are they just rebelling against parents who were professional mimes?

Perhaps they are living in fear of their own thoughts and their refuge is to keep talking, banging pots together, blaring bad music. Maybe someone forgot to tell them that if you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Have these poor people heard of meditation? I wonder if they equate it with witchcraft and voodoo, a behavior for the fringe element. Do they consider taking a vow of silence to be the same as promising to stop breathing?

I am not one of those people. I love silence. Give me two hours of quiet and I will journey upon the stormy waves of my thoughts to every corner of the universe. Call me a thought tourist if you like.

I will review the past, savor the present and speculate about the future. I will not need a television. I will not need the wacky morning radio DJ to share his views on Britney Spears. I will not need to see the latest fad video on YouTube, even if it involves the newest shenanigans of the dramatic chipmunk.

For me, silence is still golden.