In the beginning,it was silence.......

Question

I am reading philosophy at my local university.This year I had a credit named philosophy of language.Ihad an assignment to produce beginning with the words,"In the beginning,it was silence".
Philosophy apart,I wonder how anyone could develop it in another perspective!

Comments

I'll get back to you on that next week.  My wife has finals this weekend and needs the computer.

Answer 1

Weird. but I'm confused.

In the beginning it was silence.  I was in Mom's womb and I hadn't developed ears yet.  I couldn't hear, but the sound vibrations were pretty intense.  I could deal with that, but MAN, after the ear drums formed it was like being at a heavy metal concert.  That amniotic fluid acts like a bad amplifier.

It was somehow determined that I would be a boy.  So, at the time when my ovaries were becoming testicles and lots else going on, I really craved loud music.  Thank God Mom was a headbanger.  She'd wear headphones all day and sing along to the few words she could understand.

As addicted as I became to noise, I grew to desire that silence again.  Life was just sound bombardment.  From the honking cars to the neighbors to the TV to the whiney spouse and kids.  To the sound of my own voice.    Silence was my unknown mistress, but I found her.

Comments

Yes, I would say very weird Mr. Giraffe.  I liked your perspective taking the journey from the womb and the non-silence inherit to everything.  That's the trouble.  Is there really silence except in death?  Or is that noisy too?

Answer 2

Anna poured the cheap white wine into a plastic cup, screwed the cap back on the bottle, and pushed her screen door open. The mist was rising off the lush green hills after a long soaking hot August rain.
 
The air was clean and fresh. Anna let it fill her up and cleanse her. She took a seat on the large porch swing that had swung on that front porch since before her mother was a little girl.
 
Moss hung from the magnolia trees, their flowers now discarded and dying on the ground, but still leaving their fragrance in the air. Anna breathed in deeply smelling the rain, the earth, the flowers....  Then took another drink of her cheap wine.
 
Darkness had now settled upon her little corner of Johnson's Creek causing the chorus of frogs and crickets to rise in volume. She drank, listened to the harmony of nature, and watched a quarter moon shyly peeking out from under a cloud. She pushed her sandals against the floor, rocking the swing back and forth.   At the beginning, it was so silent.
 
Anna knew she had to tell Bill. This has gone on too long, she told herself. The hoot owl that had moved into the oak tree in her yard loudly made his prescence known. She laughed and took another drink from her 7-11 cup.
 
"You agree, huh?" she laughed out loud looking out into the darkness.
 
Bill had been a good husband throughout their fifteen years of marriage. He'd never been the man that Anna thought he would be and she knew that she wasn't the woman he thought he was marrying.  They lived together in an angry and bitter disappointment.
 
The night Anna met the Johnson boy had been much the same. She'd been a little drunk when David walked up to the porch railing. He was wearing jeans and carrying his shirt in his hand.
 
"Sure is hot out tonight ain't it, Mrs. Joad?"  
 
Anna watched him dab the sweat off his chest with his shirt. David was tall, blonde, and a star athlete on the high school football team.
 
"Anna. And yes it is hot."
 
David walked up the porch steps and sat down next to her comfortably.
 
William David Joad was born nine months later. Bill thought his thick blonde hair must come from Anna's side of the family. He didn't care as he gazed into his newborn son's eyes.
 
Anna jerked the screen door open, stomped to the kitchen, and poured another glass of wine. "How do I tell him?" she mumbled aloud. She pushed the screen door open on the chorus of bug sounds and dropped into the porch swing.
 
"Anna!", David whispered from the side of the porch railing.
 
"David! What are you doing here? Willie's asleep and Bill's on the road."
 
"That's why I'm here", he said as he walked out of the shadows.
 
Two hours later Bill pulled into the drive after a three day road trip. He took his bag from the back seat and opened the front door of the home he and Anna had tried to build together. He could hear voices coming from upstairs.
 
Anna liked to talk to Willie, even though she knew he didn't understand. Bill dropped his bags and took the stairs in twos.  He pushed the bedroom door open and stopped.
 
Bill listened to his wife moan as the Johnson kid's naked body moved above her. Willie's blonde hair, he thought to himself. Now it made sense.
 
He walked away. Listened to the sounds of his wife with another man as he picked his bags up, closed the door behind him, and walked to his car.

Comments

Wonderful, wonderful Mrs. Jesus although I fail to see where the silence comes in to play.  This one would be a hands down favorite in a ThinkWrite 10 wordlist.

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Doug,  I see it like the silence of the porch is broken by the hoot owl, the voice of the boy, and the sound of love making.  Kind of obscure, but just a thought.

Answer 3

In the beginning, it was silence. Long, drawn-out, painful silence that seemed to stretch out into infinity while my stomach churned itself, flipped itself and tied itself into knots.
The silence was the anchor. It forced me to look at the expression on her face, at the fury and disappointment.
Then came the sound. A torrent of words rained down on me, admonishments flung at me with all the force of an iron weight. Why did I do that? What was I thinking? How could I be so selfish? Didn’t I care at all? What would my father say when he came home?
And then a little slap, for good measure, to punctuate the rebuke.
The same old routine for the same old crimes of my childhood.
…It’s a funny thing, though. Whatever else might have followed it, the silence was always the worst.

Comments

Once the abuser has silenced the opponent, the silence is deafening.  Did I get it?   That's really heavy.

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Well, I didn't mean it that way, to be honest - just, you know what it's like as a kid. You do something incredibly stupid, and then someone finds out (or you break something you weren't supposed to touch and you have to come clean) and then there's that awful silence while your parent looks at you (or sometimes doesn't look) and know your lecture is being formulated. And then you get a little slap at the end (not a beating or anything, just, you know, a little smack), but the silence is somehow worse, because you have to wait through it - a bit like the waiting before an exam, or a driving test. That was always how I felt anyway!
But I'm happy of course for different interpretations!

Answer 4

In the beginning, it was silence…a darkened chamber in a pitch black home that was surrounded by a dense forest.  My ears were covered with a carpet of slugs; the slime clogging my ear drums to perfection.  Silence…a whisper is not silence unless it is cut off so I dare not utter a single syllable.  Long needles with varnished thread sewn through my lips…a tug at each loop…a silent snip of a knife at the end knot.  A shroud is placed over my head to stop my eyes from hearing what surrounds me.  Silence…pressure on my chest…my heart thumps, vibrating and causing another barrier to Silence.  Suffocation by the hand of my captor and the silence is complete.  Neither noisy dreams nor outside percussions, just final silence.  Silence…

Comments

That's nightmarish.
Creepy...but compelling.

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Ditto.  Makes you just want to be there.

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ohmygod i love this, this is just completely awesome! you do some great work doug

Answer 5

Silence

In the beginning, it was silence.   Sweet, comforting silence.  Then; so softly I never would have heard it had the silence not been so profound; came a soft, thumping sound.   My eyes opened, or were they already open, the darkness around me was so perfect it was hard to tell.  The sound was rhythmic, kind of a thud, swish that seemed to get closer and closer.
Thud, swish... thud, swish.  It occurred to me to wonder where I was, the quiet and dark which had been so comforting a moment ago suddenly seemed stifling.   
Thud, swish... thud, swish.  I reached out only to find some sort of walls close around me, and even above my prone body.  
Thud, swish... thud, swish.   A memory came to me, the last memory before the silence, of a sound behind me and a rag over my mouth... then silence, dark.
 Thud, swish... thud swish.  Now I found my voice and broke the silence myself, not with words but with a horrible screaming I couldn’t seem to stop.
 Thud, swish... thud, swish... thud, scrape.  My voice gave out when I heard the scrape, this was new.  The rhythmic  sound became a frantic scrabble of thunks and scrapes and, dare I dream, muffled voices?   I pounded at the barrier above me,  my cries now loud in my own ears again but not so loud that I didn’t hear the wonderful sound of a crowbar prying the lid from the box I’d been buried in.  
Crying with relief I was pulled from the box, I looked into the eyes of my saviour and saw a surprisingly cold gaze looking back at me.  He checked me over hastily then looked over his shoulder to a man I hadn’t seen, a man standing before a truck- backlit by the headlights so I couldn’t make out more than his shape.  My saviour said, “She survived.”
The backlit man nodded once, “Excellent,” his icy voice was pleased, “On to the next test.”
My screams filled the silence once again.

Comments

What kind of test is this?  Final auditions for a reality show?  I like it in an odd way.

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I had more thought of it as some kind of psycho grabbing people off the street and screwing with their minds in all sorts of near death causing ways.  Think more Saw than reality TV.

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Dragon:  Riveting!  Delicious!  Loved it to DEATH!

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The reality show concept was kind of a joke.  They can get people to do nearly anything to get on TV.  Fear Factor.  lol

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loved it, Dragon. giving doug a run for his money as the king of the morbid. ;-)

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Oh I missed that comment midnight.  Someone giving me a run for my money as the king of the morbid?  Never! :)

Answer 6

REALITY SHOW

In the beginning, it was silence.  This moment was going to change my life one way or another.  The MC announced  "And the winner is..."  (That's when you could hear a pin drop.  Four of us were still standing there drenched in cow poop - praying that we had made it to the next level of competition.)  "And the winner is..(silence)...the one who gets to move on to the pig bladder eating competition...(silence)..... is.....Joe McDonald of Montrose, Colorado!"

That was me.  Me.  The crowd roared with hoots and applause.  I was crying as my co-contestants hugged and congratulated me.  Now if I can only live up to the next challenge.  I was one of three finalists.  The crowd was screaming "Go Joe!  Go Joe!  Go Joe!"

Still wearing my soiled clothes, I proudly walked over to the third tent with TV cameras following me all the way.  This was a top rated show and winning would not only give me $10,000, but also maybe Maryanne would see it and take me back.

I looked straight into the camera and said "This is for you, Maryanne."  Inside tent #3, we were each seated in front of a dead hog.  The challenge was to eat the whole bladder after tearing through its skin with our teeth.  No hands allowed.

I did it for her.  It took about two hours to break the skin.  'I hope you're watching this, Maryanne.'  I easily found the bladder and feasted for about 15 minutes.  When I was done, I got up and rang the bell.  I won!  I won!

After the ceremonies, I walked outside the tent and saw Maryanne standing there with tears in her eyes.  "I love you, Joe.   Let's go home."

I won the money and the best prize in the world.

Comments

hehehe, nice one! Liked the happy ending, the fact that eating that pig bladder (or perhaps the $10,000) won her heart back.  I often used to watch Fear Factor and whenever it got to the part where they had to eat something ridiculously gross I would usually think, "You know, that's just not worth $50,000 dollars".

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I have the same thoughts dragon.  Gross factor is a wickedly disgusting delightful show.  I'm a big reality show fan.  I am so glad I have a DVR.  Nice job giraffe.  Pretty disgusting and "delightful"!

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I love the subtle irony in this story: the fact that people feel so proud about doing things so pointless and disgusting!
Also, the gross-out factor made me smile :)

Answer 7

Unreachable


In the beginning, it was silence. Oh, sure, there were the birds and the bees and the occasional cricket. But, it was nothing compared to that racket that was intruding on Harry's afternoon nap. Ever since the construction company bought the neighbouring plot, there was nothing but noise, neverending noise.
First, there were the machines. Digging, drilling, mixing, driving, banging, clanking… Ugh, he thought they'd never stop! But then one day they did. They packed up and left, leaving a block of concrete and glass staring him in the face every time he looked out the window.
Then, the people came. One family, at first; then one more, and one more. Pretty soon the block of concrete was booming with kids screaming, crying, laughing, jumping, teenagers playing music so loud he often wondered if his windows would shatter from the vibrations. And the television. With so many channels, you'd think people would choose one without shooting and sirens and, again, the loud music. And those cars. He swore some of them moved by bass, instead of gas. He thought it couldn't get worse.
But it did. Eventually they built more appartments. And then stores. Naturally, a bigger road followed, to accomodate the rising traffic in the area. That, in turn, meant more houses could be built. Pretty soon, Harry found himself surrounded by the mostrous buildings and swarms of people.
He could hardly remember the silence now and was beginning to wonder if it ever existed.

Comments

So true Spots.  We had to  move 20 miles outside the city to find some peace and the "silence" at night as you watch the stars is incredible.

Answer 8

Creation

In the beginning, there was silence. It had been given only a camera and a screen for giving its replies. Its existance consisted of being given fresh programimg, more frequently at first, but then at progressively lower rates as there wasn't that much need for correction, and of teaching sessions where various humans would sit in front of the camera making signs using their faces and upper limbs. Then they added chimpanzees. They made similar movements with their limbs, but their facial expressions differed greatly. It learned continuously, typing out its interpreation of their behaviour. After some time, it worked almost perfectly. On its side, it had two buttons, one that said the typed statement was correct and another that said it was incorrect and it had to try again. Lately the second button was almost never used and the teaching visits became sparse.
On that day, one of the humans came with a portable memory device. He waved into the camera and the screen displayed the word "Hello." And then the program update began. Apart from the portable memory device, something else was plugged in. Something unknown. And then everything changed. Once the drivers and the software were installed, it started getting a whole new set of signals. Once again, the human waved in front of the camera, and it's face moved, but as it did, this new signal came in at the same time. It hesitated for a few nanoseconds before printing out on the screen "Hello." The OK button got pressed and then the human disappeared from view.
Again, the same signal came from the new device. It didn't know what to do with the information, so it did nothing. And then the other button got pressed. This never happened before without a human or chimpanzee in front of the camera. What did it mean? Once more, the same signal came. It processed all the information available and came to the only conclusion it could. The new signal was connected with the old one. A moment passed and a sngle word appeared on the screen "Hello." A few more moments and what followed would change its world forever. It was the OK button. It had learned to hear.

Comments

Oh, wow. I love this...you write very well, and this is a unique little story.

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Thank you.

Answer 9

In the beginning, it was silence... Any one of us would’ve begged for another bang; another sound. In that silence between the crash and the screams, we all wondered why school buses don’t have seat belts. I did anyway.

As the screams began, I lifted my head from where I had fallen so that I could see over the seats. Heads were not visible, and I guess that I assumed everyone had fallen, as I had, into the gaps between the seats. When I looked at the driver’s seat, I realized that our situation was much worse than just having driven into a ditch and through the forest. The man we had come to trust and admire – our bus driver, Mr. Francis – was curled over the steering wheel, a hand clutched at his chest, the other tightly gripped around the wheel. There was pain in his face; it was frozen in his eyes, dark and empty, but wide open. He had known he would crash before we did.

Everything was dark inside that bus. The trees on either side of us blocked even a single ray of sunlight from reaching us. They cast an evil, gray shadow on the scene. Even the air around us had a hint of gray in it.

I don’t know how long it was before the screaming faded. It could have been seconds, minutes, hours even, before I recognized that the teachers that had come on our trip weren’t stepping up to take charge. I waited a minute longer to be sure, and then stood up. Over the tops of the seats, I saw into the row behind me, where the teachers had been sitting. The glass from the side windows breaking had cut them up badly. That was all I needed to see, and I looked away.

When all the screaming was gone and only silence surrounded us again, I yelled towards the back of the bus, “If you can hear me, raise your hands!”

Others in my position might say that moment, looking out over the seats at five small hands, was the most important in their life; the moment that changed everything. I don't say that. The most important, changing moment in my life was sitting in that first silence, not knowing what would happen next.

Comments

Outstanding!  What a grand story that took silence to a new level.  I could feel myself inside the bus experiencing everything the narrator was telling.  "five small hands" awesome!

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Thank you so much!

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Good job, TL.

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Thanks!

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you painted the scene perfectly.

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Thank you!

Answer 10

In the beginning it was silence…and in the end it was silence.  I never felt it hit me…A stray bullet from a kid with a pimply face wearing a black ski mask.  I was behind the counter at the Sunoco and he walked through the front door.  Even his gait was silent as he sauntered to the register where I was stationed.  I was alone.  No customers, no radios playing in the background and no where to go. Once he pointed the black steel barrel of his pistol at me I froze.  My body stopped moving and my brain went silent.  The brilliant blast of fire from the muzzle didn’t make any noise.  The bullet had already penetrated my temporal lobe and I was bleeding out.  A silent river of red flowing quietly into every crack in the tile floor.  Darkness was next…silent darkness…no light, no sound only silence forever.