We have reached the end of privatized prisons in Hamilton County.<\/p>\n
The governor wants to take down the Capitol's Nathan Bedford Forrest statue.<\/p>\n
Area leaders continue to call for the resignation of county Sheriff Jim Hammond.<\/p>\n
And, in a mandate I never imagined in my lifetime, the county mayor declared citizens must wear a mask in public or risk jail time or a $50 fine.<\/p>\n
All this in the last seven days.<\/p>\n
There is so much to discuss, applaud, criticize.<\/p>\n
Today, however, I want to talk about something else.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Today, I want to say nothing.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
These feel like Tower of Babel times.<\/p>\n
There are so many different voices saying so many different things.<\/p>\n
We hear medical experts who say one thing.<\/p>\n
We hear more medical experts who say another.<\/p>\n
We hear conspiracy theorists, politicians, libertarians, activists, Trump supporters, Democratic Socialists, researchers, anti-maskers, mask-wearers, pundits, preachers and fools.<\/p>\n
They all say different things.<\/p>\n
Like this:<\/p>\n
In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said every American should wear a mask.<\/p>\n
Days later, the World Health Organization said masks aren't necessary for healthy people.<\/p>\n
Who do we listen to? What do we believe?<\/p>\n
Each day, we are buffeted by a dozen winds.<\/p>\n
It is exhausting. Everywhere, megaphones. Everywhere, noise.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Recently, I have been thinking about this Gospel scene:<\/p>\n
Jesus stands before Pilate, his executioner. He is hours away from crucifixion.<\/p>\n
Pilate asks Christ: what is truth?<\/p>\n
Jesus doesn't answer.<\/p>\n
He just stands in silence.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Why not speak out? Why not answer?<\/p>\n
Why say nothing?<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Jesus could have criticized him. Converted him. Tried to change his heart. Cut him down to size. Even begged for his life.<\/p>\n
Christ wasn't a church mouse. His voice his non-silence put him on death row. You don't challenge The Man like he did and get away with it.<\/p>\n
He stood before Pilate the head of the region's systemic injustice.<\/p>\n
Think of all he could have said. He could have gone viral.<\/p>\n
Instead, he goes quiet.<\/p>\n
What is truth?<\/p>\n
Tell us.<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
\"Silence is violence,\" protesters chant.<\/p>\n
This is true. The cold violence of silent complicity encourages hot violence to occur.<\/p>\n
Picture the coward. He's afraid. He won't speak. His silence allows violence to remain unchallenged.<\/p>\n
Yet also picture the monk.<\/p>\n
Her silence is different. It's rooted not in fear, but contemplation and reflection.<\/p>\n
By staying silent, does she also say something?<\/p>\n
If silence can lead to violence, can it also lead to peace? Can silence become justice?<\/p>\n
Or truth?<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Years ago, my mind was so troubled, I began doing something strange: I sat in silence.<\/p>\n
With my body.<\/p>\n
My thoughts.<\/p>\n
My emotions.<\/p>\n
Not as they should be.<\/p>\n
But as they are.<\/p>\n
This is meditation.<\/p>\n
My mind? I saw it is often like a housefly on acid: darting this way, that way, inventing, imagining, never resting.<\/p>\n
My emotions? I want the world to be a certain way, but it was often another. The result? I feel anger, fear, rage, elation, excitement, deflation.<\/p>\n
Oh, my opinions! My beliefs! I have so many, all of them connected to judgment, criticism, wanting the world to be like this. And not like that.<\/p>\n
Sitting in silence, I began to see beyond opinions and beliefs.<\/p>\n
\"Go beyond right and wrong,\" my teacher says.<\/p>\n
But how?<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
Think of a ping pong game. The ball goes back and forth, back and forth.<\/p>\n
Now think of your opinions and beliefs.<\/p>\n
And someone else's.<\/p>\n
Your opinion.<\/p>\n
Theirs.<\/p>\n
Back.<\/p>\n
And forth.<\/p>\n
All opinions and beliefs create an opposite: you believe this, I believe that.<\/p>\n
Right.<\/p>\n
And wrong.<\/p>\n
Beliefs and opinions can be beautiful things: they help us envision the world as it should be. Justice, fairness, love for neighbor and self all these come with a set of beliefs about how life should be.<\/p>\n
If only Trump <\/p>\n
If only my neighbor <\/p>\n
If only my body <\/p>\n
That's the allure. The trap.<\/p>\n
We get lost in thinking, judging, wishing how the world should be.<\/p>\n
We stop experiencing the world as it is.<\/p>\n
Our lives become daydreams, fantasies, all giant desires: please, world, be like this and not like that.<\/p>\n
What happens when we step away from the ping pong table?<\/p>\n
What happens when we move beyond right and wrong?<\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
I could tell you my opinions about privatized prisons, mask mandates or Confederate statues.<\/p>\n
In doing so, I would pick up the ping pong ball.<\/p>\n
Our game would begin all over again.<\/p>\n
But the game isn't life.<\/p>\n
It sure as hell isn't truth.<\/p>\n
I'm so tired of megaphones. So tired of ping pong.<\/p>\n
How do we speak about things that matter without adding to the noise?<\/p>\n
How can silence lead to peace?<\/p>\n
David Cook writes a Sunday column and can be reached at dcook@timesfreepress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read this article: <\/p>\n Cook: Megaphones, everywhere: how to find silence in loud times - Chattanooga Times Free Press<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We have reached the end of privatized prisons in Hamilton County. The governor wants to take down the Capitol's Nathan Bedford Forrest statue Continue reading