GOLDEN SILENCE +
How would you like to eat a meal at a restaurant in peace? No music blaring, no game on the TVs, no server asking questions “How was your meal?” If you need something you punch it into a console … “Coffee refill.” People are paying extra for nothing extra.
Restaurants aren’t the only places providing this “quiet time” service. Barbers and beauticians are now offering it. Tell him or her what you want, then sit in peace and quiet until it is finished. No small talk, no music, no TVs. Just relaxation while having your hair serviced. “It’s just the concept of the individual in the chair not having to engage,” says Andrew Edwards, the co-founder of Sunday Salon. 20 minutes of peace.
I recently went to the periodontist. They played loud music while doing the service and it was distracting. I enjoyed the dark glasses to ease my eyes but could have used less noise, to be honest. There was no way to relax knowing that my gums were being burned by laser while 3 other devices snaked in and out of my mouth.
New old-time reading rooms are cropping up in cities. Rooms, with diffuse lighting and no art on the walls and no music, where the reader can spend an hour sitting in a very comfortable chair in silence while reading their favorite book, physical newspaper, or magazine and sipping ice tea. People pay for this. The only difference from the old way is that neither smoking nor alcohol is allowed.
When was the last time you did something which included no music, speech, or electronic gadgets? A friend goes for woodland walks alone. Another spends time reading scripture every morning for a half hour without interruption.
The same friend who spends a half hour alone, also spends 45 minutes not alone. He walks the local mall looking for friendly human relationships, greeting shop owners by name, meeting and talking with other walkers. He wouldn’t have the mental energy for the latter without the former.
Me? I enjoy writing alone when the muse challenges, like right now. Without the quiet there is no muse. Sunday I found a phrase in Psalm 120 that appealed to me. Monday, alone in the quiet, I wrote a 1,600 word short story that phrase inspired. No, it wasn’t a “spiritual” tale. Sometimes a few random words are my muse. Years ago my younger daughter wanted a bedtime story. I picked up a crossword puzzle and chose 7 answers and developed a story with took several months to tell. The words were answers to Asian clues. So I created an Island nation which never existed and wrote it into existence.
By the way, yesterday I read a story about quiet vacations … something people crave.
DAY & NIGHT
Have you ever noticed that Day is unfair to Night.
Did you know that Day is counted from the moment the first edge of the sun appears over the horizon? It is not a 50/50. That is, Day doesn’t start when half of the sun is visible.
Day ends at the moment the last edge of the sun disappears over the horizon. That is, Day doesn’t end when the middle of the sun is sitting on the horizon.
As a result Night loses out. Night begins when the sun is no longer visible at all and ends when any part of the sun is visible.
Long video to follow…
To be fair to Night, Day should start when half the sun is visible and end when half of the sun is no longer visible. Night loses out daily by the diameter of a whole sun. This has been going on for centuries. It is owed millions of unpaid hours.
What else works this way? Do you get paid for work from the moment any part of you is visible on your employer’s property until the moment no part of you is visible there? I think not!
Does a lake begin the moment you can see any part of it and end when you cannot see any part of it? So, the lake begins the moment you top the rise until you exit over the rise? Nope!
This is as clear as … night and day.
We need to protest?
Copyright 2025 Donald Whelpley
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]
See more GUEST POSTS from Don!
Comments