Thursday, March 29, 2012

Turn Off The Noise

Walking along the Wind Cave trail in Usery Park, I could hear the definite sounds of something resembling music. Soon around the next bend, two girls (no more than 20) were heading toward me. One had a very small sound device attached to her collar and that was the thing that was sending out the poor quality music that they could both enjoy and irritate me. I usually acknowledge other hikers on the trail. These two. NO WAY.


Turn off the radio. Did you hear the gila woodpecker. Hear the sound of your shoes on the gravel. Look for the lizard. Be aware of the world around you. Don't block it out. How about hearing the rattlesnake. Look up to see the soaring hawk. Look around to see the saguaros across the slopes of the mountain. Didn't you notice that the ocotillo are blooming, but the stems have no leaves. Don't you wonder why that is. You aren't even talking to each other.

Go to the athletic club where all that noise is acceptable and encouraged. When out on the trails, be aware of the natural world and leave that other world at home.

3 comments:

  1. My goodness, somebody is becoming a cranky old man. (grin) Seriously, I agree with you. But remember that the two lasses have grown up in electronically-stimulated twitch mode their entire life. Ten seconds of silence would seem weird or boring to them.

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  2. I agree,
    I love listening to my iPod with music and podcast, but it has a time and place. If they wanted to be listening to their "noise" via headphones....fine but definitely not external speaker..... NO! But I still agree with you that they are missing out. But these are the kids of today. Very sad. Even in my old neighborhood, there are no kids outside in the summer afternoons and weekends. They are all inside on the computers and video games.

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  3. You cannot fully appreciate the natural world around you if you are plugged in to something else. Period. You cannot hear the rattlesnake that might be near. That in itself is a good reason to unplug. And just plain sensible. I don't think you are cranky in the least. My guess is that they just did not know any better. At least they were outside enjoying nature on some level.

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