Thursday, August 11, 2005

White noise



To prove a point once in film, Heywood made us all sit down and listen for a moment to all the white noise in the room. A fan hummed slightly above our heads; the lights buzzed; people shuffled down the halls outside. "Aha!" he said, there is no such thing as silence, so why do you leave white noise out of your movies?

Because we didn't really realize that it was there. We learn to tune out the machinery that powers our lives, so that we don't notice it unless it is defective or it is no longer there. The noise is comforting. It's always there.

We go further though. The cars passing outside and birds chirping is not enough for us. We need our televisions and radios, electrical appliances and talk. There is always talk.

Sometimes I find myself talking to myself just to fill space. Sometimes I find myself talking to other people for the same reason. I don't think I am the only one.

I don't like feeling like I'm just talking to make noise, but that's exactly how I've felt on two separate occasions this week. Running into friends that I haven't seen for a while, I don't realize how much meaningless noise we are creating until we run out of things to say. Then we just sit there, trying to find polite ways to get out of the situation.

Silence is too uncomfortable.