The Sound of Silence...

Sometimes, not often, I wake with a song on my mind. The only time I really pay any mind is when I haven't thought of the song in a very long time. 

I pay attention to the music playing in my head if I didn't go to bed with it running through my mind. Because I think surely it was placed there for a purpose. Maybe something I needed to hear.

This is one of those times.

A song that made the charts in the 60's (somewhere around '65), it soon became a well listened to song. As I ground a few coffee beans early this morning, the grinder started pelting out, "Hello darkness, my old friend...I've come to talk with you again..."

Late yesterday afternoon, I became fearful. It was the type of fear that used to slowly creep through me from many years ago. All my red flags started yelling at me to be quiet (something I'm not really known for). I was to withdraw as quickly as possible and take the path that leads me to shutting down where darkness creeps in. It's an old friend (like the song says).

Silence hasn't always protected me, but it was always a place I went to in hopes of not being found. A place to hide. Mentally and physically.

Although this is not meant to be a gloomy post, it IS meant to be a warning...a "please listen" post. No one is exempt from the wooing of silence, especially during stressful times. Situations arise that make us want to withdraw. Sometimes removing oneself from an area is necessary. But while in that dark place, we must be aware of the exits. They are there. But there will be times we must look hard for them, and then walk towards the exit where light shows through.

Should we decide to give in to the silence, it will grow like a cancer cell that is becoming established. I walked this path many years ago. I know of its destructive ways. And now, today...it wants to find its way back to me when the atmosphere is charged with aggression. One of my trigger points...

The questions needing addressed are:

1) Why are we here again? 

2) How can we shorten the time spent here? 

3) Will we find anyone who actually listens and cares? Or will we be met with indifference, or a fake apology? Simply meaning, "I'm sorry...until the next time I become frustrated with you."

Below you will see the lyrics to the song. You think you know this song...but please read the words slowly. Let them sink in and hear Garfunkels heart beating as he wrote while sitting in the dark tiled bathroom of his parents home in Queens, NY. It is said he would turn out the lights and write in the dark while water ran from the faucet in a near by sink.The words, in my opinion, are prophetic...

The Sound of Silence, by Simon and Garfunkel:

"Hello darkness, my old friend

I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools" said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words like silent raindrops fell
And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered in the sounds of silence"

Art Garfunkel described the track as being about "the inability of people to communicate with each other, not particularly intentionally, but especially emotionally, so what you see around you are people unable to love each other."

The lyrics address modern alienation, emotional numbness, and how people interact without truly listening. The climax warns against an indifferent society bowing to a "neon god" of commercialism and distraction. The silence in the song represents growing indifference, numbness, and the danger of ignoring deep social and personal problems.

Indifference becomes reality and there are no longer feelings of love...but of darkness. It slowly makes its way into families...the families that make up society. It may have began innocently enough, but will soon stretch out into the world in which they live and move.

The warning?

If we allow this cold, mechanized disconnection, allowing the words of an inner need that has been spoken, fall flat like silent raindrops into an empty well...the cancerous spirit that has developed over time, will grow and eventually destroy whatever was once felt between the individuals known to the world as peacemakers.

Game over...you lost.

As always, here you will find me...in Mary's World