“Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?”

AKA: The Importance and Value of Solitude

The wonderful writer and poet Raymond Carver once titled a book of his “Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?” which I always thought was such a great title.

It feels especially so now, with everything happening in our world. The loudness, the shouting, the yelling — divisiveness — anger and sadness — opposite sides of the same coin. As much of a “social butterfly” that I can be, it’s also always been equally important to me to have a certain amount of time to myself — to be alone — just me — to think and to reflect — to quell all the voices that so often feel as if they are trying to drown me and hence, my own inner emotional equilibrium. Other times, of course, it’s impossible to escape from…it’s everywhere we go, it’s everything we do — this constant barrage, this cacophony of “voices” and so, being in nature becomes even more important, now than ever, as a way to, in some small way, reverse that, or at least temporarily forestall it. I’ve always been tempted to say this line, “Will you please be quiet, please?” especially to people who either pontificate or try to talk over me, which, as a woman, tends to happen quite frequently, alas.

The other week, while attempting to resolve an account issue and being placed on hold and subjected to horrid dreary music, when the “representative” finally came on the line and I explained my reason for calling, they then attempted to not only talk over me, but just continued to blather on repeating what they had just…