The Silences By Linda Stowe
One of the complaints I had about my ex-husband (#3 on your scorecards) was that when we watched things on TV, he would think nothing of leaving the room in the middle of a show or even coming in late. The first thing he always said when he returned was, “What did I miss?” That drove me nuts.
I used to respond to this question by trying to catch him up but that took my attention away from the new things that were going on and soon we were both confused. So, I would just strip the action down to a minimum and say things like, “The old guy died,” or “The bearded guy has a gun.” Then I’d sit there all stiff for the rest of the show, feeling like we were no longer sharing an experience.
He still does this. I watched every second of the September 6 Committee Hearings. He only watched snatches of it or heard reports on the news. But – get this – he still thinks he knows exactly what went on. To his mind, if you get the broad strokes, you see the whole picture. But that’s not how it is. There is a saying that music occurs between the notes. To fully appreciate the music, one must sit through the silences as well as hear the sounds.
That’s what I think living a life fully is about. Sitting through the silences, all those boring and lonely moments that are not so appealing. But it is those empty moments, those fallow periods that bring out the beauty and meaning of the rest of life. When a person chooses style over substance, their quality of life diminishes because they miss the underlying meaning.
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Polly here.
Silently.
I’m just going to add these few quotes.
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“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass
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“Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.” – Rumi
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“Silence is not the absence of something, but the presence of everything.” – Gordon Hempton
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The Silences By Linda Stowe
