February 17, 2004

That Sweet Sound...

"True silence is the rest of the mind; it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body, nourishment and refreshment."
--William Penn

Right now I'm experiencing a phenomenom that I rarely get to appreciate on this floor. I never began to appreciate the value of this until I began to live on a dorm floor. I am sitting in a silent room.

My roommate is at work; therefore, I hear no music coming from his computer or the television. My door is shut and locked. This makes it more difficult for people to stop in and start talking and helps to muffle any noise from other rooms. The window is shut and it is effectively keeping out the majority of outside noise. All I can hear is the hum of the computer, the tapping of the keyboard, and the rattle of the A/C unit. It isn't perfectly quiet in here, but it is as close as I have gotten to complete silence in quite some time.

Most people do not appreciate silence. Some people almost seem to fear it. I have learned to love and cherish it. My room has practically become the floor lounge. There are several reasons for that, but I don't particularly care to rattle those reasons off at the moment. This means there is almost always some kind of background noise around me. It might be someone sitting on the couch watching some ridiculous television program. It might be some inane conversation that no one really cares about. It is always something.

But not right now. Right now, silence is music to my ears.

Posted by Randy at February 17, 2004 07:24 PM | TrackBack