“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste…

…and remember what peace there may be in silence.” – Max Ehrmann, 1952.

Sound words of advice, or are they? To go through life unperturbed by the cacophony of crises and disasters that befall both others and ourselves seems an almost impossible task. Only if one were cocooned, enclosed in a bubble, would this seem feasible. I suppose it might possible to shut oneself off from the world, to remain untouched by the madding crowds.

It seems such a cold solution though, doesn’t it?

To cut oneself off from everything, to put up an impenetrable barrier against all the “noise and the haste.” Placing oneself, and ones soul, in isolation may aid in “remembering what peace there may be in silence” – but it must also be unutterably lonely. What is it like to pass through life as an impartial spectator, unaffected by all of the things life brings? It’s full of trials, yes; but there are also the joys. We learn from our mistakes, and those of others; we learn from the emotions we feel, the pain we endure, the delights we enjoy.

What would we be if these things did not touch us?

Cold, unapproachable, looking at the world through a glass, disdaining to let it close, refusing to become involved.

It’s all of life’s little knocks and bumps that help make up what we are: resilient, experienced, alive.

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste…and remember they make us human.

16/09/2004 ©