Digital Voices

Nothing

nothing.mp3

“I have nothing to do; there is nothing to write about; there is nothing I enjoy; nothing.”
We have all heard it, the word nothing. But what exactly is nothing? One thing seems to be clear; the word nothing, just should not exist. I had a free write for a class, and I sat there thinking. But to my misfortune, I once again, had “nothing” to write about.

What an interesting word nothing is; a concept that never seems to exist. How many times a day do you think you use the word nothing? A friend usually comes up and asks you, “What’s up?” Generally, you will reply with a simple, “Nothing much.” But exactly what is nothing? What do they mean nothing? How can there be nothing? Something must have happened in your day. Something simple like you got a bad test grade, you stared at the clouds, you did well on a project, you said hello to an old friend, you typed a long paper, you drew a picture, or you fell flat on your face. There is always something in my eyes. My definition of “nothing” is just a word used too frequently when it is not needed, and that most people will use nothing as an excuse when they can’t think of something that interests them enough to talk about, write about, or just like in general.

People always seem too lazy these days, trying to get out of assignments because they have “nothing”. People even try to get away with normal activities because of the word nothing, and sometimes people will mope around because there may be “nothing”. Now I am not trying to be mean but, say that your house burns down and there is “nothing” left to that house. But there is something still there, right? Yes everything may be “gone” because of that fire but those ashes are something of that house. Those ashes are the remains of what once was. Then you realize that, that house held memories, and memories are something you can’t get rid of easily. From the ashes to the memories, there is still something. You can’t say there is nothing left to that house, the things may no longer be whole but they still exist. If people would try harder, they would realize that there is everything and that “nothing” just doesn’t exist. I try my hardest to not use the word nothing. “Nothing” always seems to be something, well at least the thought of it. So that day I found something to write about, the thought of nothing. It opened my eyes to a whole new perspective because now there is everything. I believe that there is no such thing as nothing, that nothing is here to confuse us, and that the word nothing is a waste of time.

Before today I was previously aware of podcasting and I believe I have used it once. I use them daily when I listen to my favorite college radio station on the Grand Valley campus actually. Because you cannot get the radio signal here, I have to go online and listen to past shows and I download them. I have noticed the sounds of podcasts are very clear and are not hideously recorded. I think podcasts will transform the world and will make it transform.
The first essay I listened to was “The Universe Is Conspiring to Help Us” by Kevin Kelly. I decided to listen to this because it stood out to me. The title caught my eye and I was glad I listened to it. What stood out to me about the speech was his use of words and his stories. It made it appealing and I felt completely engaged in simply that. I think the part that was most memorable was his story of how he would go to every house he could and he would say “I’d like to pitch my tent tonight where I have permission. I’ve just eaten dinner, and I’ll be gone first thing in the morning,” and how no one rejected him, not even once. That takes a lot of courage to travel the country on a bike and get the respect he did. What was most effective was the way he approached the essay.
The next essay I listened to was “A Positive Outlook Is Overrated” by Barbara Held. I chose this one to read also because the title not only caught my eye but the title was also something I agreed with. What stood out to me was how she supports her own beliefs. She used her own personal story about an issue with herself and not another friend. Using her own personal experience that made her realized what she believed made me really enjoy what she had to say. What was most memorable was how she expressed herself and how she carried herself through out the podcast. I really enjoyed the NPR podcasts.
I noticed that the introductions were “I believe” said over in other voices and they introduced the person. I thought the voices of every podcasts were very interesting and it gave the speeches character. The author’s own introduction, not NPR’s, tend to explain what their speech was about without actually saying, “Today I am going to tell about…” and I really enjoyed that.