Spend much time in the...
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Spend much time in the country and you notice that usually there is noise: the wind in the trees, the birds calling, insects chattering away, cattle lumbering by, animals feeding themselves. We think of it as peaceful, but really, there's action all the time. Live near a freeway and you know about noise. The wind rushes as the quietest of cars pass, and noisy ones let you know what decibels are. Then there are trucks with more noise than mufflers can handle. Sometimes there are honkers, and an occasional musical horn which can be amusing. A factory, even closed and deserted, is a collection of noises: the click of punch clocks, air conditioners left running to cool electronics, the creaking of cooling machinery, the hum of batteries charging. Even in a hospital quiet zone, there is noise: the rolling of wheeled stretchers, the clatter of meal trays, piped-in music, doctors being paged, the ubiquitous (if not iniquitous) television, blips from monitors, various alarms from sundry machines metering medicine and life signs. We call it background noise because we take it for granted. It's so routine we don't notice it, like our heartbeat or breathing. We don't think about it. Yet, it reminds us that everything is connected. The insects, the cars, the doctors are all together in the great and grand and wonderful enterprise we call the universe. They remind us of something else routine that we also take for granted and hardly ever think about because it is there all the time: the majesty of God. -- Mosley
