The Quiet Doesn’t Need Defending
FIELD NOTE No. 013The world is full of advice.
Speak up.
Get out there.
Network.
Share more.
Post more.
Say yes.
We rarely hear the opposite.
Sit still.
Listen longer.
Leave your phone in your pocket.
Watch the weather change.
Let someone else finish the story.
Some people mistake quiet for emptiness.
It isn’t.
Quiet is how you notice deer tracks crossing a bean field long after they’ve disappeared into the woods.
It’s where you notice the first cricket before summer arrives.
It’s where you realize muddy water can become a reflection of the sky.
Most things worth noticing don’t announce themselves.
The world isn’t short on voices.
It’s short on people paying attention.
Maybe silence isn’t the absence of living.
Maybe it’s where noticing begins.
— Esker