Everyone needs their quiet space, their sanctuary and their place for peaceful contemplation. These days though, those types of spaces are becoming harder to find.

Noise is all around us. A certain amount of noise is “necessary,” lawn mowers, edgers, power tools and the like.

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We are forced to tolerate this kind of noise in the name of progress and produictivity. Houses must be built, lawns must be mowed, hedges must be trimmed.

Then there is the elective noise. It seems people are just getting noisier and noisier with each passing year. The availability of powerful, relatively inexpensive stereos and musical amplifiers is part of the problem. Now every other kid growing up is encouraged by their aging rock and roll parents to play the electric guitar or bang away on the drums.

Kids grow up without enough attention, maybe as a result of two working parents, or maybe as a result of split families. When they get to be adults they seek out attention anyway they can get it. Often this involves bumping their car stereos or playing their music at obscenely high volumes. They want people to notice them, even if the reason they are being noticed is because they are acting like jerks.

I am consistently frustrated by the noise around me. It is everywhere. It muddles the mind and damages the spirit. Without the opportunity to ever sit peacefully and think, those of us who value quiet contemplation can become neurotic, paranoid, and mean-spirited. Conversely, those who constantly generate noise become self-centered and lose empathy for those around them. They consistently generate conflict and animosity, and so they come to accept this as the natural order of things.

I think we need to get away from all of this noise so that we can hear our own thoughts and form a more peaceful relationship with one another and the world around us.