Mortality and "The Sound of Silence"

   September 11, 2001 is a date that will live in infamy.  Nearly 60 years earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt attached that description to Sunday, December 7, 1941 for that was the date the Empire of Japan launched a surprise air raid on Pearl Harbor and launched America into World War II.  For those of us old enough to recall where we were and what we were doing on September 11, 2001, THAT date is OUR date that will live in infamy.  Sunday September 11, 2011 marked the 10^th anniversary of terrorist attacks against the United States when 19 terrorists hijacked four planes and used those planes as missiles by flying them into the World Trade Center towers (The Twin Towers) in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.   There was a fourth plane that was hijacked in this diabolical plot but, due to the heroic efforts of the passengers on Flight 93, those terrorists were denied wreaking additional havoc on American soil.  I remember that day as if it were yesterday.  Some people who really know me would say that I remember EVERY DAY as if it were yesterday.  Sometimes it does seem that way.  I won’t go into where and what I was doing that day, though.  I will NEVER forget that day for as long as I live.   
   Which brings me to what motivated me to write this particular piece: mortality.  When I watched the television coverage of the 10 year anniversary of the attacks, I became overwhelmed with my PERSONAL mortality.  There were many poignant and emotional moments during the commemorative ceremonies.  The most poignant moment to me was Paul Simon singing “The Sound of Silence”.  (Paul Simon singing at Ground Zero)  Whenever I hear that song it reminds me of the movie “The Graduate” that was released in 1967 starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.  “The Sound of Silence” was on the soundtrack of that movie.  Paul Simon and his then musical partner, Art Garfunkel, were Simon & Garfunkel, one of the most popular Folk groups of the 1960s.  I was 7 years old in 1967 and I can vividly remember when the movie and the song were part of America’s pop culture.  I’m 51 years old now so when I saw Paul Simon sing this song at the 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero in New York, my life from 1967 until now flashed before me. 
   In the 44 years hence, I’ve seen men land on the moon; I watched the coverage of the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King,Jr.; the Vietnam War was on our television sets nightly; the Ohio National Guard killed four students on a college campus; I reached puberty; I watched the coverage of AND studied the Watergate scandal; taped a sitting President of the United States resign from office (Richard Nixon); I learned to drive; I've been educated; I've made AND lost friendships; began a career in the media; I have talked on a phone while walking down the street and while driving; I've lost some close people to deadly diseases including a significant other of 10 years; I've seen people cured of deadly diseases; I've experienced euphoria; I've had heartbreak; I've broken some hearts; I've made some money; I've lost money; I've created opportunities and blown opportunities; I've had a bout of depression; I've moved to California and moved back to my hometown of St. Louis; I've worked in many professions; I've had a career in the media; I've lost BOTH parents; I've seen the birth of my immediate family’s third generation (I have a 22 year old GREAT niece and a 21 year old GREAT nephew); I've walked picket lines; I've demonstrated and protested; I've been arrested several times for civil disobedience; I've traveled the world; I've slimmed down and gained weight; I've suffered hair loss and now have snow white facial hair; three of my four siblings are in their seventies … in fact, my second oldest sister, whose name I won’t mention because she’ll get mad at me, just turned 70 on September 10; I have a nephew who is 50 years old and my oldest niece will be 50 years old on Christmas Day; and I’ve become a MONSTROUS cry baby in my advancing age.  THIS is my LIFE for goodness sake!
   So when I heard Paul Simon sing this song from this movie that came out when I was 7 years old, ALL of the aforementioned flashed before my eyes.  Paul Simon, a month shy from turning 70 years old himself (October 13), went on to become an international super star recording artist in those 44 years.  He delivered an emotional rendition of this song.  He actually wrote this song in 1964 after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  This song and my LIFE seem to be intertwined because of the memories it generates for me.  My favorite verse in the song is this one:

                              And in the naked light I saw
                                    Ten thousand people maybe more
                     People talking without speaking
                     People hearing without listening
                     People writing songs that voices never share
                     And no one dare
                     Disturb the sound of silence

   Which brings me back to mortality.  We all eventually learn that from the moment we exited the womb, the clock toward our non-existence begins and there is NOTHING we can do about that.  Although I’m an eternal optimist, I seriously doubt that I have another 51 years of this life.  I know that I am on the back side of this life.  I am a Christian so I do believe in a spiritual eternal life.  I don’t fear death at all because my spirit, once it leaves the shell that is my body, will be free and eternal.  MORTALITY is REALITY.

   When the cameras panned the crowd at Ground Zero this past Sunday as Paul Simon sang "The Sound of Silence" and I saw the emotions of my fellow Americans as they, too, dealt with mortality, I cried as well.

The sound of silence is DEAFENING.

Peace, peace in the Middle East!  

Craig Riggins  

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