8:46
The time, sitting inconspicuously in the title like that,
reminds me of a john cage song called
"4:33"
4 minutes and 33 seconds
of silence: no voice, no noise,
no music, but wait
is that not music?
is not music just
the manipulation of
sound and silence
the balance between
something and nothing?
The only difference between
4:33 and 8:46
is that 8:46 was not silent; no,
quite the opposite
there was a voice, there was noise
they just pretended
not to hear.
And how do we decide, anyways
what we do and do not hear
because clearly we're selective
whether we admit it or not
and one person who was not
knew the value of silence
in bringing to light
what was previously silenced.
Because sound trumps silence
and something trumps nothing
but just because we see nothing
doesn't mean it's not there.
And just because
the beat of his own drum
sounds different than ours
doesn't mean it's not music.
Because wasn't that what
made America so great
in the first place?
People.
Marching to the beat of their own drums
because this is a free country
at least I thought
and America is a melting pot
at least I thought.
But silence is a slow-cooker
you tend not to notice it
until it cooks your chicken
or makes you noodle soup
or catches fire because you
kept it plugged in too long.
America is a melting pot, yes
America is on fire.
But these flames are not quenched with water
because they have been burning for 400 years
these flames are fought with
listening
instead of speaking;
feeling
instead of trying to understand
will we never understand?
No
but maybe for once we can
listen.
