More than a decade ago I left Bethlehem for a few years, a period of time during which I completed a book. When I returned I noticed that something had changed on the South Side.
It was noisier. I couldn't vouch for this being true in other parts of the town, because the South Side was where I lived. But I COULD vouch for my neighborhood.
Now, the South Side had been noisy for as long as I had had anything to do with it. But that was all right. At all times, the underlying music was discernible as the cars of young people went cruising by.
But it seemed that during my absence the ante had been upped. All concern for the nerves and feelings of others seemed to be gone. The emphasis that had been on music now seemed to have shifted to sheer noise. Decibels and nothing but decibels.
Twice I put myself, accidentally, into real danger. Once was when I encountered a man who was walking down the street carrying a boom box next to his ear in an apparent effort to deafen not only himself, but everyone within a mile radius. I asked him--I am afraid, not particularly politely--to turn it down. In return, I was transfixed by a gaze so full of venom that I thought I was about to be killed. The same thing happened when I asked a couple of young men who were installing a car stereo system right outside my apartment to turn down the volume. This time I really was a little more polite--at least, to the extent that I could make myself heard. But again, the response made my blood run cold.
Thank heaven, I now live in a much quieter neighborhood. But I gather that the problem around my old digs has, if anything, become worse. At the core of the problem, according to a Morning Call article I read a few days ago, are "boomer cars" that cruise the streets not only of the South Side, but of all Bethlehem--not to mention other communities, like Allentown. Owners of such cars sometimes meet at intersections and have "duels" that involve unleashing unbearable walls of sound. One of them was quoted as saying, "I want other people to hear what I hear."
Well, thanks. More than generous. What if we don't want to?
What if we call this a mere cultural expression, and let it go at that? I do believe that, to a certain extent, young people will be young people, and should be let alone to live through it. But, among other things, the noise presents a public health problem. These cars and their drivers are creating future patients for audiologists, psychologists, even cardiologists. (There is nothing quite like a good end-of-the-world roar to make the heart skip a beat or two.)
I don't know what to prescribe. Perhaps we could start pushing the virtues of civilization above those of culture. Those virtues include caring for the needs and wants of others, perhaps more than for our own.
It would be a start.


For more by Berengaria, read In Search of Healing, http://insearchofhealing.blogstream.com