Like silent raindrops fell...
October 17, 2011
Last Friday, over breakfast, my wife shared with me an amusing and insightful story.
Seems a group of people were walking home late one night and came upon a fellow crawling around under a street lamp. Concerned, they stopped to offer assistance. When they asked what he was doing down on his hands and knees, he explained:
“I’m looking for my wallet.”
“Ahh, you’ve lost your wallet. Well, maybe we can help. What’s the furthest this way it could be, and what’s the furthest that way it could be?”
“It’s difficult to say. I really don’t know.”
“Well then, let’s retrace your steps tonight. Where did you come from?”
“I was at the bar about a kilometre that way.”
“Okay, where were you when you last saw your wallet?”
“At the bar.”
“So, why are you down on your hands and knees, crawling around here looking for your wallet?”
“Well… isn’t it obvious? This streetlamp is the only source of light between there and here.”
She told me this story in response to my daily rant about the general lack of due diligence witnessed in the marketplace. How apropos! People fly to the closest source of light, though that light may not even shine on the subject at hand.
There’s a hardware store just down the street. Why not take a walk and buy a flashlight? Then you can follow the entire trail for yourself, searching in places never touched by that solitary streetlamp. Better still, buy two flashlights and bring a friend. Two heads are better than one, and it breaks the sound of silence along the way.
I figure Paul Simon must have been thinking about this same due diligence conundrum when he wrote down these priceless words:
Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCNwgzM2rQ
Timeless in its relevance… with every single word. Perfection met. Full stop.
Kevin