I don’t remember where I read it, or saw it, a story about sound being turning off. Slowly, as the days went on the people somehow blocked all noise, until, finally, a perfect silence was upon them. I envy that world at times, as the motorcycle roars yet again, and the awful chickens next door caw me out of any hope of sleep. I don’t want to be deaf, far from that. Simply put, I’d like a volume knob on the world, a choice in the matter. I don’t mean earplugs or some other artificial means(as another motorcycle roars by), but a genuine way to calm the noise, assuage the pulsing air of life left to its own devices. Think of the unbridled joy you would experience upon hearing a song, or the voice of a lover, after a long detachment from that nuisance noise. I can’t remember how that story ended, but I think they came to miss the noise, and did all they could to return to the cacophonous world of the days before. For me, I’d just like the option of turning this all down, to take a second to be truly devoid of input. To have that moment of nothing, that moment of true freedom from the onslaught. Or, now that I think of it, we could all just walk, or ride bikes. We could, as a group, decide to turn down the knob.