Disconnected Noise and Silence
“Lost time is never found again.” -Benjamin Franklin
Tonight I sit here with thoughts in my head and my grandmother in a hospital bed. Things have not been easy lately for any of us amongst the chaos and the noise.
I have struggled to write my first article on Medium. Many thoughts around the silence and noise from the fear of being ignored or criticized. But, before my grandmother becomes a memory I had to write this for her.
There is much talk among my generation lately about disconnecting. A friend of mine has been inspiring me by living an example of a disconnected life. Life Check and Life without a cellphone are just a couple examples of her lessons. Another friend, Peter, has made significant improvement by bringing some silence to his life as well. We are constantly connected and distracted from what Living Is, what is going on around us, and today I was somewhat forced myself to ignore my phone and the digital world because I was needed elsewhere.
My grandmother had some health issues which caused her incredible confusion. She could not complete a single sentence. Sometimes her words made no sense, other times her words became completely indecipherable. Tonight she remains in a hospital bed for testing. As I stand by her bedside, and my father later on, we hear her call out, “Aaron”.
I am normally a very strong person but today I struggled. I struggled because she has always been there for me, however today was different. Today went by so fast, it feels like a blur, but here is what I can remember:
I was talking to the nurse and I struggled to understand her because of all the noise around us. However, on this rare occasion, it was my surroundings distracting me, not my devices.
The noises in my grandmother’s room, the beeping, and the hustle of people everywhere, the Emergency Room.
It felt like all the noises meshed together. It was overwhelming, but the one thing I heard clearly was “Aaron”. Her voice was quiet and you could hear her fear, but that word was clear.
From today I realized I need to make more time to disconnect and turn off all the tech. Allow yourself to have silence. Live in the now and be physically and mentally present with the people you care about. Spend quality time together without the devices and distractions before it becomes too late to get a second chance. Make sure the people in your life know you care about them. Spend time with them, show them, tell them. Just make sure they know how important they are to you.
This is my first article, and I dedicate it to my grandmother. I am not a writer nor a poet even though some parts may rhyme it was written because it was time.
Sincerely,
Aaron
