8:46

The time, sitting inconspicuously in the title like that,

reminds me of a john cage song called

"4:33"

4 minutes and 33 seconds

of silence: no voice, no noise,

no music, but wait

is that not music?

is not music just

the manipulation of

sound and silence

the balance between

something and nothing?

The only difference between

4:33 and 8:46

is that 8:46 was not silent; no,

quite the opposite

there was a voice, there was noise

they just pretended

not to hear.

And how do we decide, anyways

what we do and do not hear

because clearly we're selective

whether we admit it or not

and one person who was not

knew the value of silence

in bringing to light

what was previously silenced.

Because sound trumps silence

and something trumps nothing

but just because we see nothing

doesn't mean it's not there.

And just because

the beat of his own drum

sounds different than ours

doesn't mean it's not music.

Because wasn't that what

made America so great

in the first place?

People.

Marching to the beat of their own drums

because this is a free country

at least I thought

and America is a melting pot

at least I thought.

But silence is a slow-cooker

you tend not to notice it

until it cooks your chicken

or makes you noodle soup

or catches fire because you

kept it plugged in too long.

America is a melting pot, yes

America is on fire.

But these flames are not quenched with water

because they have been burning for 400 years

these flames are fought with

listening

instead of speaking;

feeling

instead of trying to understand

will we never understand?

No

but maybe for once we can

listen.