Tonight I was walking down a path near my dorm at about midnight. I am a monstrous fan of the night, especially the outdoors, and the seclusion which a combination of the two can bring. At one point in the path, both of its sides were covered with large bushes. I took a moment to breath while still walking and simply listened to the sounds around me. My focus was on nothing but deep breath and my senses. In situations such as this my mind tends to wandered towards and focus on perception and such. I began to center my own perception on sound, and the crickets chirping around me from their various hiding spots in the many bushes drew my attention.
A cricket is tiny, and its chirping is not much individually. However, collectively the crickets were making quite the racket. As I continued to walk and listen though, I began to really hear the cacophony as a whole. It was as if the crickets were all a part of a symphony, with each cricket contributing its own individual chirps. This symphony was not pleasing to the ear; it was by no human, musical measurements decent in any way. However, it was kind of beautiful to think of how the complete set of chirping was perceived by a relatively large, outside subject (me).
In a way, it reminded me of humans. Each of us goes throughout our lives banging pots and pans and causing as much ruckus as possible just to prove to our twisted egos we aren’t as small as we really are. When space, or even the sheer size of our Earth, countries or even cities are contemplated, only one conclusion can be drawn: one human is absolutely tiny. There are simply so many human beings in the world.
Some people are great; some are horrible; some are beautiful; some are dumb. No matter what their label is though, every single person contributes their unique chirps to the cacophony of humanity. Each piece of seeming disharmony is really completely harmonious in ways which a simple, human brain is incapable of comprehending or even acknowledging fully.
As I began to attempt to understand this, my next thought was, “Well, how do I apply this abstract comparison?” Since I understand we, as a race, are merely yelling into oblivion with no objective other than to make some noise in our own ‘personal’ concertos, two options are available: Scream and yell and make as much of a difference as possible in the dissonance, or do absolutely nothing.
I concluded that I respect the fact that some will use their ability of choice to do nothing, and I understand their choice, unlike most people who unconsciously make noise. It is their choice to separate from the arguably meaninglessness chorus. I simply choose to make an uproar, while many of the minority of people who actually begin to comprehend our nothingness, may see this as pointless. It is a paradox, with stupid people on every side (as with most decisions which exist).
Whatever anyone’s choice is (in any other situation, as well), it is acceptable, as long as the individual acknowledges the implications of their choice, as well as the meanings of the other routes the fork in the road may have lead to. This is my personal philosophy, and these were my thoughts on a cacophony of crickets as I walked along a dark path tonight.
sometotallyrandomramblings 