Vrooom, honk, clang, bang! Noise, noise, noise everywhere! One man’s noise is another man’s music or so goes the saying. “Whatever”, I say smugly. In my opinion whomever coined that term did not live in a perpetual blender of sound. We all know what noise truly is and it isn’t pleasant to the human ear after a few hours. A car screeching up the street. Car doors slamming every five minutes and people talking and talking. Talking incessantly it seems. I wonder did I make a mistake moving to Philadelphia? I know deep down I didn’t but sometimes I wish Philadelphia was just a little more,well, quiet. I knew I would pay a price somewhere down the line coming from serene North Carolina but I didn’t think I would have to pay for it with my ears. Here’s the thing, in a large city like Philadelphia or New York we are often unaware of the ill effects that noise pollution has on us. If you don’t think that noise pollution really exists, then disregard this entire post and continue on in acoustic ignorance. But if you have an ounce of common sense and a pair of functioning ears than you know that the headaches, tense shoulders, grinding teeth and even insomnia are all direct symptoms of a deafening loud environment. Sadly, most of it can be attributed to human beings. That is because human beings are vocal and social and we just have to make noise even if it’s to annoy another human being. Animals don’t do this. That’s why animals don’t get high blood pressure or need to call the cops on their noisy neighbors at 3 am in the morning. So with that being said, imagine a city of 6 million people all “doing stuff” and doing it rather loudly. Now imagine a place where you can break away from the prison of perception. Noise by the way, is directly related to efficiency. This means that if a product let’s say a washing machine, is working improperly it will produce noise because usually something or some part of it is defective. What about that car of yours? Ever notice it making that scraping sound when it needs to be repaired? Now when a product is working properly it barely makes a sound at all, maybe a hum here or there but usually no more than that( most manufacturers now have new lines of appliances labeled as “quiet”). Hence the reason we use the expression, “working like a well-oiled machine.” It should then be no surprise the world is so noisy since most of everything we own is broken to some degree. Now take that information stated above and multiply that by 10 billion. That makes for some pretty noisy households, not to mention noisy streets, noisy offices and overall noisy cities. Ahhhh deep breath now. My relief finally came when I visited the Morris Arboretum located in the Chestnut Hill section of the city. The Morris Arboretum, owned by the University of Pennsylvania, is a giant leafy green classroom full of plants and flowers collected from around the world. This outdoor sanctuary is quiet, calm and chock full of natural tree-huggin’ goodness. It’s landscape is smooth and organic like a beautifully painted picture. Mossy green ponds slowly empty out leading into streams that bottle-neck into smaller channels of water. You almost feel like you’re in one of those beautifully painted pictures except way bigger and real. Not only is it breathtaking but did I mention it’s quiet too? The only sounds you’ll hear are extremly chirpy birds and disgruntled ducks quacking over in the swan pond. Mother nature will relax your mind as you stroll along to her soundtrack. As I sit under I believe some sort of Chinese Maple tree (botanists hang your heads in shame) writing this entry I cannot help being in awe of mother nature. The grass I’m sitting on is so plush it’s almost berber-like. The trees are so green and lush that I can hardly compare it to any other color green I’ve seen. I am almost tempted to go barefoot right here and now (try that in the city and you’re likely to contract something that needs to be treated with antibiotics). You can smell the scent of blooming lilac wafting through the air. A forest green canopy keeps you nice and cool while the sun peaks out from behind the leaves. You get the picture. If you need a reprieve or just want to see something truly beautiful, visit the Morris Arboretum soon. It is truly one of Philadelphia’s best kept secret. There are some 112 days left in summer so don’t let them all go to waste in a concrete jungle, go find some peace and quiet you’ll be glad you did.
*Visit www.morrisaboretum.org for more info or call 215-247-5777.
**Please note there are extended summer hours until 8pm in June, July and August.
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