I’m sitting here trying to think of something to say about the pending national holiday looming on the horizon.  That being this national day of remembrance and sorrow that we will forever see on September 11^th.  But all I can do is think back on a time when I was alone. 

Sitting quietly on an old beat up couch, that was a little too long for the room so it had to be angled slightly to fit.  Just sitting there in the early autumn sun.  We didn’t have any real curtains to speak of so if there had not been a tree in front of the apartment, then the sun would have had full reign over our front room.  As it stood, the sun was only allowed thin rays of light that shone down into the room.  There the beams would stand and slowly move across the floor as the morning progressed. 

It was quiet that morning.  Really quiet.  There was no breeze, and with no windows open no sounds to invade the simple picture.  In fact, that is what it was, a picture.  A snapshot of time frozen there for me to view.  The only things that moved were the tiny bits of dust that glistened as they passed through the beams of light onto destinations unknown.  It was a perfect moment.  A perfect silent moment.  A time where a human being could reflect on his life.  Could think about girls or school or jobs.  Could think about the passage of time.  Could think about headaches and hangovers.  Could dream of futures where time was always like this, slow and waiting, instead of the real truth of times evil rush forward, racing you to your doom.

I can still see those flakes of light as the dust danced from one arc to the next and then settled somewhere, alone, and forgotten, on the floor.  I can still ‘hear’ the silence of it.  I can still imagine the deep easy feeling of satisfaction that creeps over one in such a moment.

That was a real moment of silence.  A place where I was able to adjust my life to the moment and by doing so, some how save a tiny piece of my lost and empty soul.  That’s what silence is really for, I think, to help us adjust, sort of call a time out from life and just reflect on the things that have come and the things that are going.

On Wednesday you might be asked to believe that silence involves commercials.

I suspect they might be wrong.