Does anyone even know what it means anymore? We hear about water pollution and air pollution, but nobody talks about noise pollution. It would be nice to sit in our back yards and enjoy some quiet time, but between the neighborhood dogs barking, the ice cream trucks - sometimes 5 or 6 per day, and the neighbors' radios; there is no such thing anymore.
Living in the country isn't much better either. You have the sounds of water pumps running 24 hours a day, tractors and crop dusters. So you go to the mountains and if you're lucky, your camp neighbors left their radios or CD players at home. One of the quietest places I ever been is the desert.
Most of us wouldn't know what silence is. We listen to our iPods or watch TV; our cell phones are ringing or our computers are buzzing. That's right, if you listen carefully, your computer buzzes. Try listening to a whole room full of them at work. And then to top is all off, you turn on a fan at night to create white noise so you can sleep.
It's very difficult if not impossible to find a place of quiet anymore. Of course peace is a little different. Peace is generated from within. You can find peace in the midst of noise. Last week I was out in my garden and my neighbor had his Mexican music playing, but I didn't mind because I felt at peace with my world. I was content on the inside and nothing was bothering me. In fact I recognized the song even though I couldn't understand the words. "When I was a little bitty baby, my momma would rock me in the cradle. In those old cotton fields back home. I was down in Louisiana just about a mile from Texarkana in those old cotton fields back home. When those cotton fields get rotten you can't pick very much cotton in those old cotton fields back home...." Anyway, I just smiled, put in my earphones and turned on the iPod.
So what do you do for peace and quiet?
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