A Jackhammer Christmas

I grew up on a farm outside of a small town on the vast expanse of the Canadian prairies. It was quiet at night (except for the occasional dog barking), but it was super quiet at night at Christmas time, especially when a fresh blanket of snow covered the ground. I will forever have memories of standing outside on the nights leading up to Christmas, being lost in the silence. I wondered if the night was as still and quiet for the shepherds just before the angels crashed on the scene.

Stillness and quiet is not part of Christmas here in Taiwan. In fact, this year seems especially full of noise pollution as the neighbors have taken to renovating their house the past few weeks. Renovating a house in Taiwan invariably means the use of a concrete drill day after day, sometimes as early as 8:00 in the morning to 9:00 in the evening. When the drill is not being used, there are still various noises of tapping, banging, hammering, grinding, tearing, crashing, and ripping. And since the houses are all basically built in the same concrete block, the noise vibrates seemingly as loud in our house as it does 2 doors down.

So, the challenge, for those that typically like to spend a quiet Christmas, is to find peace in the noise, stillness in the vibrations (which we also had from a recent 6.8 earthquake). One has to find a quiet inside oneself, because it doesn't exist in the air around a Taiwanese city.

In closing, I offer the Taiwanese version of "Joy To The World" (with apologies to Isaac Watts):

Noise to the world, the work's begun

Let men their drills employ

While hammers and saws, grind ceaselessly each day

Repeat the clanging tools

Repeat the clanging tools,

Repeat, repeat, the clanging tools

Quiet or loud, may you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!