Dictatorship of Noise

By Fr. Lazar Arasu

Cardinal Robert Sarah in his compelling book, “The Power of Silence” calls the forcefulness of noise as dictatorship—forceful, manipulative, devious and oppressive. As dictatorship, noise is enslaving and yoking. Noise strips us of peace of mind, tranquility and stillness of body, mind and soul. Noise makesus addicted to it leaving us helpless and craving for more noise.

Have you ever noticed how we run from silence and how enthusiastic we are for noise? We have got used to (rather forced into) noise created by cars, industries, entertainment and communication gadgets. Our homes, streets and towns are filled with noise. Of course often we have no control over them, but we have built apathy for the situation.  We console ourselves saying that the modern world is like this. Noise seems to be the price we pay for being modern and sophisticated.

One has to make a decisive effort to keep silence which is not always easy. Silence can be created and maintained only by a collective effort of the community—people who share our life and environ. It is also the paramount duty of the state and local governing bodies and security agencies to maintain silence and enforce the existing laws on noise pollution.

Modern world through its technological advancement has taken a particular pace of growth that it has adopted for its existence; it is nothing but noise production. Sometimes no one seems to complain about the noise that is forced upon us in our living areas. Unable to control the situation, we are left helpless and find ourselves at the mercy of noise. Almost in every town in Uganda music is played throughout the night and no one seems to care or everyone has got used to it. But the irony is, even the very personnel or the public bodies that aremandated to control the noise seem not bothered about it or they even enjoy it.

Recently when I met a police officer in the early hours of the morning I began my conversation talking about the noise in the area, but before I started my lamentation, he said, “the party in the town was good last night.” I was left to wonder and I found myself out of place in the conversation and noisy environment. Often in the name of funeral rites people play noise (call it music) throughout the night. I often wonder howlittle children, sick and elderly cope with this situation.

We are left to wonder: What has happened to rules and regulations on noise pollution? Is it in order to play loud music and make noisy announcements and advertisements from moving vehicles in busy roads? Do we respect areas surrounding hospitals, schools and residential areas? What about churches those preach charity becoming uncharitable and nuisance with overnight noisy prayers? Can we apply the famous rule of Idle and Disorderly on those who make excessive and polluting noises? When will our security agencies and institutions of social services save us from hurting noises?

I tend to believe that silence ought to be enjoyed rather than forced upon. It is a matter of self-discipline, maturity and courteousness. Silence ought to be enjoyed rather than keeping it. It is the highest state of education to realize that silence is beautiful, powerful and healing. It is a moment of introspection and healing. Silence is the medicine for modern maladies created by pollution of all types, both internal and external.

Modern world alienates us from our own self. We fail to find the comfort zones where we can rest our body, mind and soul. We lose our identity and a sense of self. Silence can enable us to go within ourselves and find a remedy for stress and anxiety. We can more easily relax if things are quiet. We can remove ourselves from the confusion and chaos of the world and discover many things in our lives for which we can be grateful and find a sense of fulfilment.

Silence also helps us to focus on what is important at time moment of life. It is only when we can find silence that we can be more attuned to our inner voice and the prompting of God that is speaking within us, guiding us with how to respond to the situations that come up in our lives.

Silence also teaches us that simplicity and joy are close companions. The more silence a person has in one’s life the more he or she can notice and savour the simple joys of life, without all of the world’s many distractions.It is only in silence we become creative and come to know our potentiality and all that we can achieve using our talents and resources that are around us.

The author is a Priest and School Administrator