Peggy Noonan had a great article, yesterday, in the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion-Journal. It was simply titled: Shhhhhh.

Her premise: There is a lot of talking about a lot of things, a lot of it is the cooling off of this heated Presidential Election. She just encouraged the public to be quiet, and be calm, in a soothing kind of wrote.

Quiet.

I like the sound of that.

As you know, I use the term signal-to-noise ratio a lot; and for good reason. I like signal. I dislike noise. (I’m not talking about White Noise, you know the kind of “static” that fills the void your attention is not taking up; I’m talking about the Noise that diverts your attention. THAT noise.)

This quote got my attention:

I told a friend this. He said, “Like Larry Hagman.” This of course confused me. He explained that once a week Mr. Hagman, the actor, used to say nothing. He’d wear a sign on his lapel that said, “Please forgive me, I’m not talking today.” This irritated his family. It makes me want to find him and adopt him.

Personally, the Introvert/Thinker/Analyst in me loves the idea of a “speech free day”. (I’m not saying no communication, just no talking.)

• No phones
• No CELL phones
• No verbal communication.

There are pleanty of other ways to communicate.

A lot of people react differently to silence. Some people rejoice in it, some relax, others go completely nuts.
I rejoice in it. Not everytime, not all the time, not continuously, but my life is noisy enough to warrent some silence time, when I can get it. (For example, I’m here in my cubicle jungle I’m here all alone, everyone else went home. Its silent, and I’m getting more work done than I did 5 hours ago.) (Granted, you wont see this post until tommorow morning, as I’m setting the publishing for early on Friday)

The article also quotes the Bible:

Ssssshhhhhhhh, I want to respond. “I almost went to Canada but went into therapy instead.” No–go to Canada. Add to the great silence there. Or help build one here. “You had better bring your agenda to the front burner and to a full boil,” Bob Jones III of the eponymous Bob Jones Everything Down South, warns the re-elected president. Jeez, as Bob Jones doesn’t say, could we relax a little?

…

I want to say Bob, remember Psalm 46:10: “Be still and know that I am God.” Or just, “Be still.” Or “Be.”

Instead I say to Bob Jones III, and to myself: Ssssshhhhhhhh.

So America, quiet down; and relax. Shhhhhhhhhhh
To quote another segment of the Psalmists: Selah

Selah: Pause for Reflection.

Pause
Reflect
Be Quiet, and enjoy
Be quiet, pontificate, and enjoy
Think Catharsis.

Pause, Reflect and enjoy.

There will be time enough to debate, when the peaceful silence is done.

And to my co-workers, this isn’t my plan of attack for the day; the silent treatment; just an illustration. So relax.