Listening to an Inner Voice

Another Tribune blogger takes on Zorn's arid, liberal scorn for a moment of silence in Illinois' schools at the start of a day. Issues of possible prayer aside, this is a "teaching moment" too. Time to take a cleansing breath, gather thoughts in peace, or just look out the window at the day. Manya Brachear:

I, for one, cherish the moments of solitude and silence that so rarely punctuate my day. On those long, extended moments of silence I like to call vacation, I often read and occasionally re-read works of literature that remind me to seek more silence once I return to the daily grind.

One of those essays is “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers,” an account of a boat trip Henry Thoreau took in 1839. Thoreau wrote: “Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”

Silence is a key to self-reliance, and may instill respect for listening to wise outer voices, as well as inner ones. (Even voices of conscience, Eric.)