The disappearance of silence

Book a train trip on coach B, the quiet coach, and you can be sure that nothing will be changed from an ordinary coach. Most people book a seat on a train, without being aware that Coach B means silence.

I have just been to my local library to take some time scribbling at my notebook, fishing for ideas. I was well ensconced in my quiet setup, when a woman with a lanyard around her neck sat in front of me with her laptop. I didn’t mind too much and chose to use her as the topic of my scribblings, when a few minutes later, her colleague came to sit next to her. The square table was made of 4 seats only around the table, so their proximity was obvious. And they started to chat!

Modern days make people blind to the concept of silence. We must live in the moment and use the little we have in our busy lives to… be noticed! Maybe that is what is driving all this, this disrespect of silence.

Silence must feel oppressing to some, is one of my explanations.

Are people so frustrated that they can’t abide silence?

Are creation, inspiration & meditation the vulgar words of this technological age? I am jesting.

They surely are not.

But what is different is that this is an impatient age who must capitalise on every instant it has and throw the simple niceties of life, the most apparently unuseful ones down the drain.

Sigh….