The Nature of Silence

As I've grown older, my view of silence and the idea of it has changed from thinkin of it as a harbinger of awkwardness that must be avoided at all costs, to now realizing that it is a multifaceted entity. Silence takes many forms and fits a number of unique situations. There is a serene side to silence that is most often experienced in the woods or whilst sitting at the edge of a lake. There is an uncomfortable, slightly agitating type of silence as well. The type that you may find looming at the center of a group of people at a party. There is also a silence that bursts at the seams with tension and echoes with the harsh words exchanged several moments prior. Perhaps the most luxurious and sought-after form of silence is that which resides between an elderly couple who have loved each other for a lifetime and know one another so very well that they don't even need to exchange sentences to know what the other is thinking.