Archive: Opinions

Spring arrived last week.  As the sun began to lift itself slowly above the horizon, our outdoor thermometer read 24 degrees.  The chickens were huddled along the fence hoping someone would let them out of their pen.  I was having my second cup of coffee and deciding which part of the yard I would tackle once the temperature reached the mid-40’s.  It was an average morning including the noise from traffic passing by our home. 

Winter seemed especially long this year.  Perhaps it was the combination of frequent snow falls followed by bitterly cold weather that gave this illusion.  But amid the snowplows and sand trucks, the morning ritual of waiting for school closings to be announced, and the quick step out to start the cars followed by an even faster retreat back into a warm house, there was a calm silence around our town. 

This occurred to me as I was driving north on Route 34B one morning.  Everything seemed muffled, quieted by the snow that had fallen on the road, in the fields, and on rooftops and barns that dotted the landscape.  It was a eerie silence, especially when I realized that I was the only car on the road for quite some distance.  It was a welcomed silence and caused me to turn off the radio and simple listen to the quiet hum of the engine as it slowly propelled the car through the soft layer of snow. 

It was during this moment I realized why winter is so vital to our lives.  The snow and cold forces us to slow down.  Every aspect of our lives must obey the slower pace.  We are compelled to practice those ignored virtues of patience, caution, and persistence.  Winter’s mix of snow, ice and cold prevents us from racing around in our usual frenzy.  

Trips are planned in advance to minimize exposure to the elements.  When we are driving, we look to the left and right, put on our directional signals, and change lanes with great care knowing that a quick jerk or peeling out from a stop sign or when the light turns green is impossible.  We have to follow winter’s rule, or we go nowhere.  And that, means our community grows quieter.  We experience something that is becoming an antiquated idea-silence.  

We live in a noisy world.  Silence is tough to find.  Our lives are ruled by noise.  Cell phones, car horns, trucks loaded with milk or road salt, vacuum cleaners, radios, televisions, iPods, and any other gadget we absolutely must have, every one of them emits its own level of noise.  We control the volume, and that volume is often deafening.  Now that spring is here, even I am guilty of adding to this cacophony of noise as I prepare to start my rototiller. 

But winter is different.  Winter forces us to slow down, to rethink our day, and to sit quietly amid the silence and pause, if even for a moment and simply allow our mind and body to live in stillness. 

There is sixth century text entitled, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers.  It is a collection of sayings spoken by Christian Ascetics, both men and women, who lived in the deserts and mountains of Egypt between the fourth and fifth centuries when that area of the world was the center of Christian monasticism. One of the more famous sayings comes from a monk named Abba Moses the Ethiopian.  He writes, “Go and sit in your cell (room) and your cell (room) will teach you everything.”  To the monks and nuns of long ago, silence and solitude was the answer to the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  It is advice that many counselors and therapists prescribe for many their patients and for society as a whole:  sit, be still, and embrace the silence. 

I must admit, my heart is racing to get that machine running.  I am anxious to get to my list for spring cleanup. So as I put my boots on and prepare to start up my rototiller on this first day of spring, I am a bit hesitant to see winter leave us.  Maybe those ascetics knew something that we, in our frenzy to achieve success and satisfaction, have lost along the way-the need to embrace silence each and every day, not just in winter.  Farewell, quiet friend.  And that is to the point. 

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