NOISE AND SOUNDS

NOISE AND SOUNDS
By Andy Weddington
Thursday, 19 July 2018

Politics, by its nature, emits a lot of noise. Tulsi Tanti

Noise, humans - politicians and pundits and critics and any old soul - carping and barking at one another while some shamelessly carry on as to their honor, audible or not is tiresome. Maddening, at times. 

Nonstop. The airways get not a breather. 

Amidst the noise is sometimes found a "sound."  

A few days ago a tweet by (the) Charlie Daniels caught my attention. 

Mr. Daniels wrote ...

"Some of my favorite sounds ...

A baby laughing
A colt nickering
Rain on a tin roof
Far off train whistles
Nightingales
Pedal to the metal at a Nascar Race
Distant thunder
Whispering Pines
Sunday morning church bells
Rushing water
Children playing
Fast ball hitting a catcher's mitt"

I was sitting at our small cafe-like table for two in the kitchen.

With a just poured glass of club soda to complement half a chilled fresh orange, eyes closed, I thought. 

And listened. The club soda fizzed, a train was rolling by, and a jet taking off. 

Then jotted down some (of my) favorite sounds ...

My wife laughing
The laughs of my Dad (not heard in more than four years but seared into memory) and Mom
Children playing outside
Birds chirping
Distant thunder
Rustling leaves
Fly line coming off the reel - trout on
The open 4th string (D) on a 5-string banjo
The swish of a paintbrush in mineral spirits
The words Please, Thank you, You're Welcome
A grandfather clock pendulum
Clang of medals on Dress Blues

There's many.

Another, and I will miss it tomorrow as brother Marines of yesteryear's Second Recruit Training Battalion rally for a reunion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, is a drill instructor calling cadence and the obedience of his growing-in-confidence platoon on the march. It is such a beautiful sound. I miss it. 

Noise.

Sounds. 

A Marine friend, a few years my senior, has a quote on his email signature block I especially like ...

"The louder he spoke of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Good advice; before and after the comma. 

A thanks to Mr. Daniels for a simple reminder of the important, the sweet, things in life.  As of this writing his tweet has received 705 comments; been retweeted 1,963 times; and liked 9,784 times. 

So, the moral of today's commentary ...

Pause to reflect on the sweet sounds and just listen, once in a while. Count your spoons, often.