This morning (I wrote this on a Saturday) my backyard neighbor texted me bright and early and asked, "WHO is blaring music in the hood?". Bless her heart--she is a hard working professional who is out of the driveway every weekday morning bright and early going to work. Her two days she can sleep in---and it sounds like we live in the backyard of a honky tonk. (NOW for all you young people--think club) I was headed out the door for my morning Hero walk and told her I would check it out. The loud music was coming from the north--not in our hood. Rock and roll or Sunday contemporary service loud was wafting over the top of the tall pines and clogging up our peace and quiet. As I walked I listened and thought---could it be a party at the next house over (maybe a 1/4 of a mile away)--that lasted all night and was still happening? That didn't make sense--sounds travels even better at night and we would have definitely heard it last night. (You can hear the coyotes sing many a night) Could it be a construction crew on a nearby roof entertaining themselves. We have had MANY a roof replaced in the hood and those crews are very kind and respectful--well except for the constant pow from the nail guns.
As we sauntered through the hood, sniffing the green off of every blade of grass, I began to hear talking over a loudspeaker, and then cheering. HMMMM~then the clue that began to warm up the lightbulb---someone sang "The National Anthem". The light finally began to glow when they played "The Eye of the Tiger".
We were hearing the loudspeaker from the parish park where a local sorority was putting on a 5K. NOW---as the crow flies--the park is probably about two miles away from here. BUT---the hood is on the top of a hill and the park is on the top of a hill directly north. The conditions were right for the sound to travel all the way to the hood. Of all the senses, our hearing is most able to pick up stimuli from the most distant places. For you see, sound carries.
As I thought this over, it occurred to me of a time when I made a comment that carried down a hall and someone was hurt by my careless remark. I am still embarrassed today---all these years later---by my words that hurt someone else. (The remark was a generalization not about anyone in particular) How often do we repeat a story and it makes the gossip rounds? As the story is repeated---it becomes distorted and the truth becomes twisted. Our voices have tremendous power and they often reverberate way past the intended listener. I am certain the ladies of the sorority had no idea we would be hearing their loud speaker two miles away--but we did. What is the remedy? Our words can have far reaching consequences---choose them wisely. The Word warns us about this---that makes it an important topic. When you speak, (unless you are in a vacuum) know those words may not stop where you intended. Be careful of what you say and say nothing you would not say to the subject's face. Sound carries--often much further than we would ever imagine. Treat it with the respect due to such a powerful force. Don't be a clanging gong, but always a breath of truth.
"Let everything you say be good and helpful,
so that your words will be an encouragement
to those who hear them."
Ephesians 4:29
What we say certainly matters, Lulu. Let's not be the instigators of negative sounds that carry way too far.
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Words are powerful, Martha!
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