No. 309 - THE PRECIOUS VALUE OF SILENCE, TIME AND SIMPLICITY

No. 309
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE PRECIOUS VALUE OF SILENCE, TIME AND SIMPLICITY

There is an old saying that goes, “The squeaking wheel gets the most grease.” In today’s culture, loosely translated this means, the one who hollers the loudest and most often usually gets the fastest, but not necessarily the best service. There are many examples that I could give to illustrate this point but one that leaps readily to mind is the carpenter or handyman who gets a job started and has you tied up so to speak, then takes off and does the same thing to several other people. In many cases we must make several calls before we can get them to come back and finish the job. This is the basis for the saying, “The squeaking wheel gets the most grease”, elbow grease that is.
While it may be a stretch, I want you to see something else with the same thought in mind that can affect us much more dramatically. The human body is a marvelous creation of God and when all the parts are working in harmony together we have something we call “good health.” But let one part of our body quit working properly, especially if its a vital part, and we have cause for great concern. This is the primary reason hospitals are full and it’s hard to find a seat in the Doctor’s waiting room.
Our body is sensitive and if we will listen it will usually tell us when something is wrong. It may be a poor analogy but this is yet another way to say, “The squeaking wheel gets the most grease.” It’s right here that I would like to share something that is much deeper in relation to our good health and well being. To be sure we need a good diet and exercise to maintain our physical health, but we also need a regimen that will contribute to our emotional and psychological health.
The other morning the phone rang about 7 O’clock and it was a reader in Galax, Virginia who said he had been thinking about calling me for some time. He gave me a good deal of his background which included playing in a number of big name bands like Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and several others. He has returned from city life to the countryside near Galax to be near his elderly mother who had recently passed away. Now he was all alone.
This man then made the comment, “I have really come to appreciate the precious value of silence, time and simplicity.” What he had actually discovered was a prescription for emotional and psychological health. With regard to SILENCE, if we want to be alone ALL the time we become a hermit, but we all need a certain amount of silence in our lives, when we can reflect on the past, present and future and to really get in touch with our feelings and who we are. It’s sad that many people can’t stand to be alone because they don’t want to be alone with themselves.
Then we come to TIME, the universal common denominator which the bum and the millionaire have the exact amount of each day; 24 hours, no more and no less. How we use our time and our priorities determines our rewards in life. Here is what I mean, “He hadn’t time to pen a note, He hadn’t time to cast a vote, He hadn’t time to sing a song, He hadn’t time to right a wrong, He hadn’t time to love or give, He hadn’t time to really live, From now on, he’ll have time on end, He died today, my “busy” friend.
And lastly, SIMPLICITY, the yearning that many people have in our technological society to keep things simple. While I love many of our modern conveniences, I have learned to get along without a battery operated paper weight. We should look for ways to simplify our lives. Hope you will take a few minutes to expound on the things I’ve been sharing in your mind: the precious value of silence, time and simplicity. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)