Where is the sound of silence ?

On Friday we had a memorial church service for a deceased colleague. There was a moment of complete silence - no cough, no rustling of clothes, no whispering, nothing. It made me think  about all the noise that tortures my ears all day.

My job  forces me to work with people. A lot of people. A lot of people who talk to me at the same time. There is constant noise -  in the office, in the hall, in the room for the the breaks. Five conversations at the same time, everybody shouting loudly trying to make themselves heard.

There is music... well "music" ... everywhere. In the supermarket, for example. The nice relaxing music that is supposed to make me buy just makes me angry . I want to escape as fast as possible and forget half of the things on my list. Children crying, mothers shouting, men talking  at the top of their voices.

And all the machines: cars, buses, trams, planes, helicopters,  the washing machine, the dryer, the computer. People talking on their mobile phones. When I come home, I turn on the TV, the radio or a CD. Most of the things I hear there are not important, but they pollute my brain and keep me from thinking.

Well - there is a point to start. I may not be able to get away from the noise at work or in the city. But I can keep my house quiet. Or go to a quiet place, like a church. And when then, after a while, the organ lets some Bach music float through the air... then I know, that silence makes us hear the  important things. Like the voices of our hearts.

Church in the small town of Tequila, México