No holds barred: The noise that drowns out peace

The inability to ever shut out noise is a plague. But beyond the pain caused by the utter lack of peace, there is the further consideration of the drowning out of the inner voice of conscience.

By SHMULEY BOTEACH
Passover story told by kids 370 (photo credit: YouTube Screenshot)
Passover story told by kids 370
(photo credit: YouTube Screenshot)
Followers of the Passover story can rightly wonder why frogs were such a terrible plague.
Was God really showing His power to the Egyptians by sending against them an army of amphibians? Would the nation that would eventually produced Cleopatra, who purportedly killed herself by grabbing a poisonous snake, really have cared? But the true plague of the frogs was how the din of their incessant ribbiting robbed the Egyptians of all peace. We who inhabit the modern world have a unique understanding of the utter agony represented by a world that is never silent.
When the United States invaded Panama in 1989 to oust Gen.
Manuel Noriega, he took refuge in the Vatican Embassy. The United States Army brought huge loudspeakers and blasted AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” in order to drive him out of his refuge, a tactic that was also employed by the FBI at Waco.
Forty years ago, John Lennon made the observation that when he grew up what was always heard in the background of homes was the soothing crackling of a fire, only to be replaced by the incessant noise of televisions that are always blaring in the background.
That noise has come even closer today, with ear buds that pump music directly into our eardrums.
The net result is that we are rarely ever afforded any peace.
Even today, harsh interrogation methods against terrorists involve keeping them awake for days by constantly blasting music, which drives them to the brink of insanity.
Many argue that this is a form of torture.
The inability to ever shut out noise is a plague. But beyond the pain caused by the utter lack of peace, there is the further consideration of the drowning out of the inner voice of conscience.
Each of us is immersed in a culture that throws various voices at us. Hollywood and the fashion industry hit us with the aesthetic voice, telling us that what matters most is beauty; best to spend our time in front of a mirror and at a gym. Wall Street and Madison Avenue hit us with the monetary voice, which tells us that the most important thing in life is money and being able to afford the material objects that will bring us pleasure.
Washington and politics hit us with the power voice, which tells us that the most significant thing in life is acquiring dominion over others. And the NFL and NBA hit us with the physical voice, which whispers that life has meaning through great athleticism; we should be spending our time on the sports fields.
But beneath all these noises, which are so central to the fabric of modern life and its aspirations, is the inner voice of conscience, which whispers to us that we were born for lives of compassion and goodness. It’s nice to be pretty. But it’s even nicer to be nice. It’s wondrous to be sporty and adventurous.
But even more spectacular is to teach our child how to throw and catch a ball. Through doing so, we grant our children a feeling of significance. It’s a blessing to be wealthy. But even more important is to live lives of charity and humility through which we make others feel that they matter too.
There is no human being that is born without that voice and, to the extent that it is lost, it is because it is drowned out by all the other voices that surround us.
The Egyptians, like all human beings, had an innate sense of morality and fair play. So how could they have enslaved a helpless people? Because the soul’s voice of fraternity and brotherhood was drown out by Pharaoh’s voice of dominion and power. As the Bible relates, “Look,’ he said to his people, ‘the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.’” The Egyptians allowed the foreign voice of the will to power to override the voice of sensitivity and compassion. In this sense, the racket of the frog plague was an external manifestation of what had already occurred.
The Egyptians could no longer hear the inner song of their own souls. They could only hear the clamor of the artificial, external voice that slowly erodes our spiritual peace.
I once counseled a blended family that was being ripped apart by a teenage girl who irrationally hated her stepfather. While her mother, after having been alone for some years, had found companionship and love with her new husband, she felt torn between her role as mother and wife. I stayed with the family for a day and saw that while her mother prepared dinner and set the table, the girl sat on a couch with her iPod ear buds in her ears and painted her toenails. I asked to speak to her.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I asked.
“I want to be a fashion designer,” she answered.
“That’s not what I asked. I asked you what you want to be, and you answered about what you want to do.”
“What are the choices as to I want to be?” she inquired.
“There are only two,” I said. “You can either be a good person or a selfish one.”
“I want to be a good person,” she said.
“Then how is it,” I asked, “that I just watched you turn your mother into your maid?” She thought about the question and said she didn’t know.
“I’ll tell you,” I said. “Each of us is born with an inner voice that tells us to be a good son or daughter.
To open our hearts to other people’s needs and wants. Your mother wants to be a loving parent, but she is also a woman and does not wish to be alone. You love you mom and your heart tells you to be there for her, to offer her comfort for the pain she’s endured and generally make her life easier.
But there is so much foreign noise in your life that you have no peace with which to hear your true voice.
Turn off the music. Listen to your mother when she asks you to help around the house, and listen to her silent plea to support her in her new relationship.”
It’s amazing how, when all the ribbiting is silenced, we begin to hear an old, familiar tune: the melodious song of our own souls.
Shmuley Boteach, “America’s Rabbi,” has just published his newest best-seller, The Fed-up Man of Faith: Challenging God in the Face of Tragedy and Suffering.