About those noisy crickets...

 On the Way Out series

Vol. 6

Part 9

Many of us old-timers find ourselves alone.

There is no age limit on loneliness. We can be young or old and suddenly find ourselves listening to the crickets sing in the middle of a late-summer afternoon or the wind blowing late at night. At the same time, an uncut branch of a giant oak tree keeps pace with the wind, swirling and scratching against our window pane.

The noises can overshadow the distant sounds of city traffic or the constant barking of the neighborhood dog just a few doors away.

We listen for the sounds.

Maybe we have finished the last chapter of a book, and suddenly, our hands let go, and the book slides down, the pages finally nestling against our chest.

We question the wind. 

In a song he wrote in just ten minutes in the early 1960s, Bob Dylan said the answers are blowing in the wind. A political song for sure, and maybe Dylan meant if we ignore such things long enough, the answers to all those tough questions will scatter in all directions and disappear forever.

The answers are not hidden in the wind. The crickets are not speaking to us. In fact, the male crickets are lonesome and are actually rubbing their wings to attract the female crickets.

The answer for a lonely cricket is to make plenty of noise. Humans do not have wings, and we handle our emotions differently.

If a good book doesn't get you out of your doldrums, hop to it, get out there, and meet some people.

In this day and age, you are not alone. Millions and millions of people find themselves isolated.

Please don't wait for the wind to blow, and, as for the crickets, they are too busy to notice you.