June 13, 2003
it
is time for the quiet people
to make some noise
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Today's photograph shows part of the driveway leading to Dana's
Lakeside Resort.
At Dana's, we
do the best we can to eliminate urban noise from your vacation
experience. We do not allow cars to be parked at the cabins.
Who wants to hear car doors slamming at 2 a.m. when your cabin
neighbors return from a good time at the casino? Who wants to
hear someone starting a car at 6 a.m. outside of your bedroom window
when your cabin neighbors are getting ready to go to a restaurant
for breakfast?
Reminder:
Personal Watercraft (SkiDoo's) and All-Terrain-Vehicles (ATVs) are
not welcome at Dana's Lakeside Resort.
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The larger issue is the
willingness of so many people to intrude on the peace of their
neighbors.
That is, when someone
brazenly jacks up the volume, the blood
pressure of those nearby soon will follow. (This
and other noise-related health problems
have been demonstrated in medical
research, by the way.)
Here's a good definition
of noise from psychologist Arline L.
Bronzaft, who works with an anti-noise group in Toronto: "Noise
should be defined as unwanted, uncontrollable and
unpredictable sounds that intrude upon our
activities." Those activities would
include sleeping, hearing yourself think, etc.
In sum, we're talking
about a plummeting quality of life for the
whole neighborhood.
And if you knock on their
door and ask them to turn it down?
Oops. You've offended them.
Now you exist but only as a menace.
They must punish you.
This, friends, is the
root of all evil: the total disregard of those
around you.
"I fear that simply taking actions to
avoid noise is not going to reduce noise,"
Rueter said.
"It can be exhausting trying to
change other people's behavior.
It's certainly easier to just walk
away. But if quiet-loving people
don't tell other people about the fact
that noise is bothering them, the noisemakers and the authorities
will not get the message."
Maybe it is time for the quiet people.
. .to make some noise.
Ross Werland, from his Chicago Tribune article
Sounding Off On Audio Assaults.
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