I didn’t notice until the topic arose at a gathering of neighbors, but the people who own our apartment building seem to crave attention. They’ve added lights. Lots of lights. Around every edge of our building’s roof, and there are lots of edges because of the way the building is constructed. Our specific apartment doesn’t face the lights, but for our neighbors, the new lights definitely brighten their bedrooms at night. 

We drove home after dark yesterday, and our building is, let’s just say, conspicuous. No one who lives here could fail to find their way home in the evening. We’re like the north star a million times over. Nothing around us has more than a lightbulb in a doorway to guide folks. As one who craves the sight of stars at night, I’m saddened to see this “improvement.” Why? What were they thinking? Do they have any second thoughts? Do the owners even live where they can see what they’ve done? 

As I get closer and closer to the point at which I will nod off and never wake up again, I’ve started to think of good things that could happen after I pass away. Two things come mind: lights and sounds. I don’t think we will go back to the stone age, but I do think that people in the future will crave darkness and silence and find ways to access both. People who live in urban areas today are fortunate if they can see Venus in the night sky, much less Orion or the Big Dipper, much less the Milky Way. Yet for most of human history, people relied on the night sky to guide them, land voyagers and seafarers alike. 

Little did I know when I was young that I would lose my ability to see the stars long before I lost my vision. I grew up in a small city with porch lights, street lights and some neon business lights, but we could still see stars and identify constellations. Today, I have to make a determined effort to get far enough away from city lights to get my fill of the night sky. We lived for a few years six miles from a very small town where we had the good fortune of being able to enjoy the stars, and on very dark nights, the Milky Way. My heart aches for the thrill of walking out our back door and looking up to take in the glory of our bit of the universe. Every move we make involves tradeoffs. Sigh.

City sounds are another mixed blessing. Sirens are annoying, but it’s reassuring to know that help is within reach if we need it. Street cleaners are perhaps the major annoyance where we currently live. I’m not sure why our small city thinks that 6:00 a.m. is the right time to send the very noisy street cleaner to our neighborhood. It takes an hour to go up and down the street in front of our building once a week like clockwork. Seriously? Who created this schedule? Bet that machine doesn’t work in their neighborhood ever! 

And then there are the garbage trucks and the food delivery trucks that service us and the restaurants that are nearby. These I value because I love for the garbage to go away, and I love to have half a dozen restaurants so close that we can easily walk to them. (Plus, the garbage and delivery trucks don’t start work at 6:00 a.m.)

Of course we have guys (yes, I’m sure they’re all guys) who make their motorcycles and cars as loud as they can, then rev their engines repeatedly – just to make sure they’re working –before they charge off into the night oblivious to the irritation they leave behind. I once asked a police office if there isn’t a noise ordinance just waiting to be enforced. He looked at me, cocked his head, and asked which crimes I’d place lower on the list of things he should attend to as he chased obnoxious vehicles around town? OK. I get it. But I still believe that eventually noise will become a higher priority than it is now. Maybe we’ll tamp down all other crime and finally be able to chase noise monsters. 

Truck noise is something else again. I don’t know why we can’t require trucks to rein in the noise they make. Some towns have highway signs saying they enforce rules agains certain brakes. Does that work? Do truckers obey such signs? And what about refrigerator trucks that keep their refrigerated trailers cold when the drivers are off eating or partying or who knows where? One more annoyance. 

I could comment on the Navy’s Growler aircraft, but I’m far enough away from them now that they no longer affect me. I learned last year that they their job is to mess with enemy communications, and I want them to do that. But damn those planes are noisy. I’m confident that some future generation will find a way to do their job with less of that bleeping “Sound of Freedom” noise. 

Perhaps the most aggravating noise I’ve heard in the past year was the sound of someone else’s music being shared with the world on a hiking trail of all places. City noise is irritating, but at least it’s in the city where we expect it. It’s bad enough if a group of hikers are yukking it up while hiking, but playing music via a bluetooth speaker when earbuds are the proper way to listen? What the f*ck!!! I’m not on this trail to listen to your music! Do we have to make a rule about not blasting your music to the world? Can you not just know that’s not polite? 

Some noise is inevitable in a city, but I really, truly believe the day will come when we realize that too much noise sets people on edge, and we need to tamp it down. We’ll also realize that the night sky has a calming effect, and we need to find ways for more people to get more of it. I don’t expect to be around when people make darkness and silence a priority, but I know it will happen!