Silence — The Most Beautiful Sound of Nature
In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 26 of 52

It’s early morning, and I need to drive to the city in less than an hour. It’s a calm day, there is no wind or rain to disturb the silence, and even the birds are still asleep. Only occasionally I can hear the sound of kangaroo feet thumping the ground as it bounds away.

While I drive through the ranges, I hear birds chirping all around me, enthusiastically singing their morning songs, and kookaburra laughing joyfully. We have had rain lately, so water flows freely through the small waterfalls whispering gently in the background.

I come down the ranges; it’s foggy but still peaceful. I keep driving, passing some little towns and communities, though mostly there is nothing but endless fields and the bush. Here and there, I hear a rooster calling his girls or cows mooing to greet the farmers, bringing them feed. The world is such a marvellous place…
And then suddenly, I hit the motorway — traffic and noise everywhere. I can feel the rush and the stress; everybody is in a hurry, so I need to join the race, too. But why? Where are we going? Why are we rushing?
Where am I? Who am I? What happened to the beautiful world in which I was living and through which I was just driving? I’m losing my identity… I become one with the mass, with the rush, with the noise…

I walk to the office. I’m passing through the beautiful parks, but all I can hear is constant noise… The noise of the zooming cars on the motorway along the park; somewhere there, an ambulance is rushing to save someone’s life. And then there is the construction site and the endless boom-boom-boom of heavy machinery breaking the boulders and digging a tunnel.

I stop at the road crossing waiting for the lights to change, and I can hear the loud music in someone’s car. Then, somewhere else, a phone rings; further away, someone is screaming at the top of their voice.
I come to the office. People are very friendly; they greet me, we chat, we laugh. We get on with our work. And there is still the constant noise, the constant talks and chatting.
I walk back to my motel. It’s dark, and the world is getting ready to go to sleep, but even then, the noise doesn’t stop. You can always hear at least the noise of zooming cars and then and again, a siren of an emergency vehicle.

And then, a couple of days later, it is time to go home. It is already dark when I arrive, but I can feel the peace. I turn off my car, and all I can hear is… silence… There is no noise whatsoever, no cars, no blowers, no mowers, no loud music, no trains, no heavy machinery. Nothing, just me and the occasional whisper of the wind, or maybe it is God, saying to me through the gentle breeze, “Welcome home… you are save now… here is peace, here you can be yourself”. At last, I can hear my thoughts and feel the peace. Yes, it feels so good to be home…

I will never comprehend how people can survive in the constant noise… But I’m sure they wonder how I can survive without the noise — lol. We are all different, and that is the beauty of life.

Please, don’t misunderstand me; I love various sounds of nature; I love the singing birds, the mooing cows, the whisper of wind or waterfalls, and the rain playing the drums on the roof of my home. I even love the sound of thunder, which somehow resembles an angry God reminding us of his power. Or is it Mother Nature bringing the world back to its balance?
However, after a few days in the city, the sound of silence is the most wonderful sound. Finally, I can hear my own thoughts and chat with God.

This post was in response to Dr. Preeti Singh wonderful prompt
Thank you, Dr Preeti, for this great prompt!
And here are a few articles of other wonderful responses to this prompt.
Joyce Nielsen describes how much the singing birds mean to her. Of course, I love birds too, so I enjoyed reading her post.
Annelise Lords’s response is filled with stunning photos of the sunset, sunrise, butterflies, flowers, and much more!
I also enjoyed Lisa Precious / Smiley Blue's post, and not only because she mentioned one of my favourite mountains — the Dolomites
Sanghita Pal in her article describes all the sounds, from the jungle to the desert, to the mountains and lakes, from the insects to the birds and other animals. And her photos are absolutely spectacular!
