The good and bad of silence

Many of us in Wyoming know what real silence sounds like. There are still places in our county where you can’t even hear the hum of a power line or water pump.

Take a stroll down most of our community streets after dark and it is as peaceful as a child resting.

Recently, when a child was resting, a tragedy woke him. Through the silence he heard what he had to do. Rescue his family.

This is just what the altruistic eight-year-old did in upstate New York. He didn’t hear the danger, he only heard the deafening sound of silence from his family.

The boy succumbed to the fire when he tried to save his grandpa, his best friend. The quiet of a family with one less child can be too loud to bear.

Empathy and selflessness doesn’t always come at the ultimate cost. Although athletes who train every day may think giving up the Olympics as a price higher than life.

Tracy Barnes qualified for the US Olympic biathlon team and instead of silently competing, she ceded it to her twin sister, Lanny. What made it more generous that it was possibly Tracy’s last chance at the Games.

“If you care about a person, you will make any sacrifice for them,” Barnes said. “Even if it means giving up your dreams so that they can realize theirs.”

Dreams are not usually quiet. They scream out, remind you how far off track or how well you are doing. And when they aren’t achieved, dreams can make you go mad with their silence.

Sickness and health, ironically enough both keep pretty quiet. You don’t know the danger lurking in your body until the doctor tells you there is nothing they can do. You never hear the healthy cells saying “Boy do we feel good.”

Silence can lead to heroism. Silence can lead to someone else’s dreams. Silence can lead to life or death.

Silence can be deadening or golden. It’s sort of like “the grass is always greener.” If you have racket and noise, you want peace and queit. But once you experience the calm of a still life, you want the hustle and bother of all the noise.

That is what happens when you miss an opportunity to be heard. Maybe you have been silent long enough. Your voice may save someone’s life, help realize another’s dream, or perhaps just put more racket in the world.

You won’t know until you speak up.