Silence's Hypocrisy

For those of you wondering why I have not posted since June 20, I was away in the Canadian Rockies. My vacation spanned from June 22 to June 31, and I must recommend you visit if you have not. My family’s trip consisted of travel to four cities/towns, Banff, Jasper, and Lake Louise (the town), stopping through Calgary. In each renown town, Mom, Dad and I visited lakes, mountains, canyons, and hiked. I was amazed by the marvelous views of each and how they differed and related. Our nine day trip sped by like people rushing to their rush-hour interviews, and a post about each location my family visited, with photos, will be coming out (hopefully!) by next Thursday.

Anyhow, an observation I noticed was my reaction to each scene, each landmark, and each view. I can describe it in one word: silence. Coming from a popular city, I virtually felt like walking in a Claude Monet painting within the presented wilderness. And this amazed

Enjoy the silence

me. Prior to my visit to the Rockies, I was unaware of the beauty of Earth. Where it could take me. I visited each of these stunning views, riveted by the greens to blues of the water in the lakes, the structure, form and shades of gray flaunted by the mountains, and how the overall scenes fit together like puzzle pieces. Silence helped me absorb this new information.

Before my trip on June 22, I was planning on spending much of my time sharing stories and new studies with my parents on the hikes, walks, and car drives. Instead, during these nine days, I consciously felt my voice naturally ushered by the beauty of scenes. Sometimes, I felt myself staring at a small, desolate flower in an overwhelming meadow of grass, or other times, at the shadows in the lakes. There was little sound. Just the sound of water lapping onto shores in the vicinity, or the feeling of a light spray of mist from a waterfall. Silence. Just the sound of nature whispering into my ardent ear.

I am thrilled by the various forms silence comes in, the awareness it brings, yet the secrets it conceals. It can be a sign of full absorption of content, full engagement, and authentic interest. I suppose I was never fully as immersed in a single scene in nature as I was this past week. I had never experienced true astonishment. Now I know true astonishment will often times lead to complete silence. Yet when I reflect on history, when I reflect on past incidents in my life, silence can also be a sign of lack of confidence, voice and opinion. These contain secrets. The burning feeling to dissent for women’s rights during the 1900s. The nervous, anxious feeling when passing bullies in the halls and the embarrassment of being discovered at a party. So yes, I am thrilled by silence’s hypocrisy, yet I also immensely appreciate it.

Silence. Say it three times. Pause in between. Let it ring.