Silence. The quietest yet loudest of all sounds. Take away all the sounds of cars, music, wind, animals and weather and the silence that is left is so quiet it’s deafening. Yet at the same time it’s peaceful. No car horns interrupting your thoughts, no music to try and speak over, no distractions. The pure experience of true silence is so foreign to us now that if it’s too silent, our ears start to ring.
With all the freedom that comes with silence, there is, as with many things, a negative side that shows itself. When you are alone in the silence there is nothing to distract you from yourself. Those thoughts that you can push back with music or phone notifications suddenly have the power to encroach their way to the front of your mind.
Without the distraction or assistance of sound, silence can be a friend but also your deadliest enemy.
Although silence is a quiet essentially nonexistent sound, it can also be the figuratively loudest sound. When you don’t get a reply, that silence can be loudest answer of all. When they told you they would call or text you in the morning but it’s been two weeks. When you ask someone a question that requires an honest answer, the length of silence in between question and answer can expose how truthful they’re being. However, out of all these silences, one reigns above them all.
The most deafening silence of all, is the silence of loneliness.
