I think one thing that people, especially younger people, don’t get that they used to is silence. Noise. Noise. Noise. Distracting noise dominates their lives.
Earbuds are screwed into our heads. Music is piped in to our stores. Tvs blare all day. Podcasts have something to say all day every day. There is never silence. The pursuit of happiness has devolved into a need to have what I want. There is “I want” and only “I want.”
We consume. And that act of wanting and procuring is a fix. Our culture nurtures that into an addiction. And we hope that fix keeps away the deep discontent that we know exists in us and threatens us. So we invite the parade of noise and colors every second of every day. We depend on it.
But at some point at three in the morning when everything is silent and there’s only you looking at you, you’ll see the vast emptiness of it all.
That moment can be the beginning of something wonderful or the end of everything.
