Unbearable Noise

The Split Second-In Consideration of Others in These Trying Times

I thank all of you who have been so supportive as I try to get support for my unpublished book The Split Second:  In Consideration of Others or Look Up from the Phone and How to Deal with Rudeness in Others. As of this writing, I can state that there is little hope right now for success; however, I want to stress that it is a little hope. As some of us might say, “some is better than none.” I think I should leave that one for right now.

When I discuss my book, I do not want anyone to think that I am taking a “holier than thou” viewpoint. I try to live life with this philosophy, “I am not better than anyone and no one is better than me.”  I would call that an “even keel” approach to my place in society. Having written that thought, I must discuss the misery I went through in the late afternoon and evening yesterday. It was all about the neighbors. They decided to have a party outdoors. The volume of the sound system was turned up very high. The system was a surround system. I felt the constant “thumping” more than I heard the music. It was unbearable. I admit to being sensitive to sound probably more than the average person. I have given many parties, dinners, and get-togethers in my time. I am a very good host if I write so myself. However, The Split Second would tell us that when we are going to have such occasions in our home, that we think of the neighbors. When I was in my 20s, I had a landlady call me on two occasions to inform me that my parties were too loud. I ended them right away, and I felt a sense of embarrassment whenever I saw my landlady for some time after those instances. A friend once told me that the concept of the surround system should never have been invented; it sounds nice when one is in the middle of it, but the “thumping” heard from being outside it is nerve-wracking.

There are too many people these days who (as I refer to it in the book) are going to “do what I want to do when I want to do it” and have no regard for anyone else’s consideration. My book stresses that disturbing other people for the sake of our own enjoyment is never the right thing to do. If I make one person as miserable as I felt yesterday, then I must feel that I have acted in an abominable way. I wish my neighbors next door had the slightest clue about their neighbors’ well-being and arranged their festivities so that no one else would be disturbed.