Noise

The soundtrack of life has changed significantly over the past half century. Now frantic noise is everywhere. A neighbor can't clear leaves from a small 10x10 patch of grass without using a blower heard blocks away. When I try to get ball scores on the radio, I have to time the announcer or suffer through the loudest cacophony of hype-noise I've ever heard (ESPN radio). The culture has lost all appreciation of silence, brooding, reflection. The world ends not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with brouhaha.