Quiet, Please
All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.—Blaise Pascal
[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]There’s something to be said for good, intelligent conversation. Almost everyone has at least one friend with whom they can sit and talk for hours and the conversation never become boring or argumentative or difficult. Those are people we respect, love, and enjoy having in our lives.
Then, there’s everyone else, the people who never shut the fuck up, who always must be speaking (usually about themselves), who never listen to anyone’s opinion other than their own, never let anyone else get a word in edge-wise, and never end a conversation on another’s statement. Those are the people whom we most often desire to meet an untimely but just demise, or at least wish they’d move to the other side of the planet. They don’t know how to be quiet.
Perhaps it was growing up in small, rural churches that taught me how to be quiet. When there are only 20-30 people in attendance, every little sound draws attention. Unlike churches today, where children are only seen in the main worship service for Baptisms and holiday pageants, we didn’t always have a nursery worker. I would have to sit in the congregation with my mother, which wasn’t easy on either one of us. The threat was always that if I wasn’t quiet and behaved during the service my butt was getting spanked when we got home. Damn, if I didn’t learn to be quiet![/one_half]
[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Ours was ever an especially rambunctious household, though. The four of us could easily go a couple of hours with no one saying anything. Momma would be reading or grading papers, Poppa would be immersed in the evening paper, I would be either practicing the piano or doing homework, while Squirt played quietly with his toys or sat watching television. Our house could be surprisingly quiet. Conversation occurred at the dinner table for the most part, and beyond that any talking we did was born largely out of necessity, giving instruction, asking/answering a question, and occasionally playing a game. Quiet was valued.
Today, though, we are surrounded by noise, even when it’s not audible. The Internet, and especially social media, provide too many people with absolutely nothing worthwhile to say, the opportunity to speak at volumes they would never actually consider were one to meet them in public. They post endless memes, share inflammatory rhetoric in a constant stream, and never seem to shut up even to go to work or sleep. Quiet is practically non-existent.
Quiet stimulates creative thought and the more one talks the less creative that speech becomes. We need the break from the cacophony our planet serves up. There is a time to speak, but without quiet we have no time to consider what’s been said. So please, do everyone a favor: shut the fuck up. Now.[/one_half_last]
Being Awesome
Being Awesome
It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.—Cesar Chavez
[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Awesome; some people have it in abundance, other’s couldn’t buy it if it were packaged and on the dollar store shelves. Awesome goes beyond the ability to do something different and extraordinary. Awesome is the ability to remain cool, graceful, compassionate, and approachable while setting an example worthy of being emulated. Those who are the most incredibly awesome can’t seem to help themselves; the awesomeness almost seems to come oozing from the pores in their skin. In contrast, others seem to botch everything they do and serve more as a life lesson in how not to do things; no matter how hard they try, something always goes wrong.
One of the first awesome people I ever met was the late pianist, Van Cliburn. I was only six years old when the rather reclusive, and to some, difficult, performer gave a brief exhibition somewhere close enough to us that my parents were able to take me. I had been taking piano lessons myself for a couple of years at that point, but was nowhere near the prodigy he had been. I was mesmerized watching his hands fly over the keyboard.
After he finished playing, everyone had gathered around for autographs and my mother was trying to guide me that direction, but this was also the first time I had seen a twelve-foot grand piano. I was as interested in the instrument as I was the person playing it and slipped away from my mother and sat my short little self on the piano bench. From my perspective, the piano was huge and scary.[/one_half]
[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”] I let my fingers lightly touch the keys, being very careful to not actually press one down; I was shy and attention was the last thing I wanted. But as I sat there, pretending to play scales and finger exercises, it was probably inevitable that a finger would slip. When it did, the sound coming from the piano seemed massive, though it was just a single tone. I pulled my hand back quickly and looked around for Mother, expecting to be in trouble.
Instead, the tall, lanky frame of the great pianist came over, sat next to me on the bench, and said, “Go ahead, play.” I was scared, so he took my small hands in his massive ones and placed them on the action. All I could manage to play was a simple scale. Van Cliburn, being awesome, was full of praise. “See, you did it,” he said quietly. “Don’t be afraid. You can do great things.” Awesome.
I’ve met plenty of other awesome people over the years, enough that the stories could go on for hours. The thing about truly awesome people is that one never expects them to be as awesome as they are; it just seems to happen. Yesterday, a friend took me by surprise and quietly invited a large number of people to like our Facebook page. As the numbers began to jump, it took me a moment to figure out who was responsible. Betty Blade Holly is one of those people who can’t hide the awesome.
I know there are others. Maybe you’re one of them. Don’t be afraid. Be awesome.[/one_half_last]
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